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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29335923">Apocalypsis: The Seven Stars</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/SomebodySomeone/pseuds/SomebodySomeone'>SomebodySomeone</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>CLAMP - Works, Clamp Gakuen Tanteidan | Clamp School Detectives, X -エックス- | X/1999</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Eventual Major Character Death, Novelization, eventual canon character death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 12:00:06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>18,772</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29335923</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/SomebodySomeone/pseuds/SomebodySomeone</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Being the second part of a "novelisation" and expansion of X/1999 by CLAMP, following on from Apocalypsis: Beginning.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Arisugawa Sorata/Kishuu Arashi, Monou Kotori/Shirou Kamui</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Sonata</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This chapter is a novelisation of the third volume of X/1999.<br/>So far, the only real change from canon is that Kyougo is still alive, although in a coma, after the attack in Volume 2.</p><p>Flashbacks are shown with angle brackets.<br/>Characters' thoughts are shown in italics.<br/>Telepathic communications are shown in circle brackets.</p>
    </blockquote><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Volume 3</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Kotori heard a knock on her door. ‘Who is it?’</span>
</p><p>
  <span>‘It’s Fuuma.’, croaked a voice from the other side of the door.  It was the first time Kotori had heard Fuuma scared in years.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Kotori jumped up and ran to the door. ‘What happened?!’ She opened the door.  Fuuma’s hands were covered in blood, as were the sleeves of his school uniform up to his elbows.  Blood had smeared onto the sides of his uniform and the right side of his face.  His hands were shaking and his eyes were wide and crazed.  He looked like he was on the verge of passing out.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>‘Kotori… father… was attacked… he’s in a coma…’ He was almost whispering, and his voice was also shaking.  Kotori stared, shocked. ‘He was attacked… in the main hall… of Togakushi… they stole the shinken… the doctors took him…’ </span>
</p><p>
  <span>‘Where is he? I have to find him!’ Kotori began to run.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Fuuma snapped back to reality. 'Kotori!!!!', he shouted.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Kotori could barely think.  Her vision was doing something strange.  No, she could think, but she was thinking of so many things at once that she could not process what she was seeing consciously, but her subconscious knew what to do.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>(where is Kamui).  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>A strange woman flew through the air.  Her hair was white and long, many times longer than she was high, and at the top of her head, it formed into a shape, three concentric toroids of vertical loops sitting atop her head, denser in the forward, backward and sideways directions, and with a sphere of hair and some sort of elastic bands in the centre.  She was wearing a white ceremonial robe three times longer than her height, with poofy sleeves and elaborate patterns around its edges.  Her obi was also way longer than it should have been, and, after its knot, it looped around her neck twice, before rejoining the knot.  Two long lines of fabric came from opposite sides of the knot.  They, too, were longer than Hinoto’s body, and terminated in isosceles triangles, the bases facing outwards and wider than Hinoto’s body.  There was writing on the triangles, but Kotori could not make it out behind the swirling and apparently prehensile hair waving around her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The background was dark, and looked like a starry night.  Dark elongated shapes vaguely reminiscent of fingers slowly expanded, obscuring it, looking as if a gigantic hand was surrounding them.  Feathers floated in the air, staying approximately fixed but slowly turning in nearly imperceptible gusts of wind.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>No, Kotori had seen that woman before, sitting inside of a crystal sphere painted like the Earth.  There was an egg, floating, shining a brilliant white.  The light faded, revealing that there was a sword inside the egg.  There was a mirror image of the egg and sword.  No there was no mirror, just a second egg, with an identical sword.  There were two Kamuis, standing next to the eggs.  The shadows they cast were white, and did not point where they should have, given the lighting.  Hinoto and the eggs lacked shadows.  The two eggs shattered.  Each Kamui pulled out a sword.  Wings grew from them.  They were different, breaking the previously perfect symmetry between them.  One's wings looked angelic, with white and curved feathers, and the other's looked demonic, with jagged black angular wings.  They leapt into the air, and they fought as they glided.  Something slashed Hinoto's arm, drawing blood.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>(Kamui's not here), thought Hinoto.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>What in all under heaven was that dream?</span>
  </em>
  <span>, thought Hinoto.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'Princess!  You have been wounded in your dream again!' The gash on Hinoto's arm was still there, and it was bleeding onto her ceremonial robe (which was smaller than the one in the dream, but just as elaborate). Hinoto grabbed it. It was hard to move her arm precisely, given that she had to move it telekinetically, but she had had years of practice.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>(a pair of Kamui why Hien Souhi contact Arashi-dono at once tell her the holy sword which belongs in the hands of Kamui has been taken by someone)</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Kanoe awoke with a gasp, looking shocked.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>'What was the matter, Kanoe-san?  Did you have a bad dream?', said Yuuto, sitting in a  chair beside her bed, wearing one of a large number of identical pink suits.  The bed was surrounded by a curtain suspended from a half-oval-shaped metal railing jutting out from the ceiling two and a half metres high up the wall behind the headrest.  The metal floor was covered in a carpet that was old but well-preserved.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>'The worst.', said Kanoe, stepping off the bed. 'The shinken has been stolen.' She removed the bedsheet and held it in front of herself to cover her naked body.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'So they got to it ahead of us.  Was it the cheerful Osaka boy?'</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'No.  The boy Yuuto contacted was a visitor from Kouyasan.', said Satsuki, entering the room.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>'So Kouya has been hiding one of the Seven Seals.', said Kanoe.  She had suspected as much.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'That boy was a priest.  I was not expecting that.', replied Yuuto.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'Satsuki, can you investigate the whereabouts of the shinken?', asked Kanoe.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Satsuki returned to her room in the converted warehouse and began to interface with the Beast.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Yuuto shook his head. 'I can't believe that she could find out about him with just a computer search.'</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'No matter what means of transportation the one who took the holy sword uses, it is undoubtable that some trace will remain in the networks.  The holy sword is about 1.3 metres long.  Anyone carrying such a large object will be noticed, especially if they use public transportation.', said Satsuki, replying to Kanoe. (She found Yuuto’s statement unworthy of a response.)</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The computer unplugged itself from Satsuki's body. 'Kanoe-san, there are no traces of the attacker escaping by taxi, train, or any other means of transportation.  However, it seems like a policeman on patrol witnessed a youth carrying a long pole-.'</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'A youth?', asked Yuuto, surprised, stretching in his chair.  </span>
  <em>
    <span>I didn’t think there were any young people among the Dragons of Earth!</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>'Apparently, his left hand was covered in something red, probably blood.  He had a pattern like flower petals on his brow.', continued Satsuki, once again ignoring Yuuto.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Kanoe exclaimed 'Can it be!?'.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Kamui returned home.  Not to his old house (whose location was too well-known), but to a place owned by a friend of his mother who was temporarily living in India.  When Kamui had arrived the day before, it had been largely empty: outside of the kitchen, the only things that had not been removed were either things that were too large to move (like the washing and drying machines, beds and tables) and a large collection of cheap phones. Kamui had spent most of March 31 making his house livable and a significant portion of the afternoon of April 1 setting up magic defenses.  Now, he was dripping blood all over it.  </span>
  <em>
    <span>Well, it’s a good thing they took the carpets with them.</span>
  </em>
  <span>  He went upstairs to his room, vapourised his shirt, washed his hands, took off his shoes, washed his hands again, vapourised his trousers, changed into pajamas and slippers, created a new shirt and trousers using magic, walked back downstairs, grabbed a mop, and started cleaning up the bloodstains.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sorata returned to his apartment in Toshima ward.  It was smaller than Kamui’s new house, but was better furnished and closer to the areas in central Tokyo where most of the action of the apocalypse would take place.  He also changed into pyjamas, but he did not brush before falling asleep.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The shinken floated in a cyan glowing cylinder, eight metres high, that stretched from the floor of the laboratory to its ceiling, suspended by four wires.  Around its base were two concentric rings, built into the floor, covered in glowing symbols.  Four scientists sat on ratty rolling chairs, which looked out of place in the high-tech laboratory, around it, wearing office uniforms beneath their lab coats.  Another scientist stood to the side, taking notes. The room was octagonal.  Four of the walls stood at a right angle to the floor, while the other four sloped outwards from the roof and ceiling for a third of their height, giving the room a vaguely toroidal appearance.  Cables ran up each wall, originating from a variety of devices around the room.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Tojou Motohiro entered the room flanked by two scientists.  He was not dressed like them, wearing an unbuttoned brown coat over a black suit.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>‘The sword’s physical structure is quite different from that of ordinary metallic objects.’, said the scientist standing by the cylinder, still looking at his clipboard. ‘In fact, it bears a close resemblance to organic materials.  It even has the ability to repair and recreate itself upon contact with other metals, similarly to a metabolic life form.  By some definitions, the sword is alive.’</span>
</p><p>
  <span>‘Indeed.’, said Tojou Motohiro. ‘Just as I thought.’</span>
</p><p><span>‘Mr. President!’, said the scientist standing to his right, failing to hide his fear.  He had not been briefed on the shinken. ‘What is this </span><em><span>thing</span></em><span>!? Where did it come from!?’ Just looking at it </span> <span>unnerved him.</span></p><p>
  <span>‘That’s classified information.’</span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <span>Apr 2</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'The priest was brutally attacked.  His chest was pierced with what looks to be a fist.  He is in a coma.', said Imonoyama Nokoru, who, as chairman of the student government of CLAMP Campus and leader of Site 5C, was one of the greatest power players in Japan's occult community. ‘And, before you ask, the fist size was too small to be from any of Kanto’s sakurazukamori.’ He maintained a tone that was even more clinical and detached than usual.  He did not want to think about what this meant in any scope other than the big picture.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'There is no way that this could possibly be a coincidence.', said Ijyuin Akira, the chief treasurer of CLAMP Campus.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'His wife died horribly too, right?', interjected Suoh, the vice president of CLAMP Campus.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'I wonder what will happen to Togakushi shrine.', said Akira.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'That is unimportant!', said Nokoru loudly angrily.  This was unusual.  He calmed down again.  After letting out a deep breath, he closed his eyes. 'I am almost certain that the final year has arrived.’ </span>
</p><p>
  <span>'This seems to be a bit early.'</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'It would seem that the psychological effect of the three zeroes going up is a bit more than we expected.'</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'Yes.'</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'I would expect that the reminder of Japan's occult service has already been informed?'</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'No.  I will call those I deem to be trustworthy later today.  Here is a list of names.  Tell me if you have reservations about any of them.' Nokoru pulled a sheet of paper out of one of his pockets and unfolded it. 'Akira-san, please perform background checks on these people.’</span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <span>‘Hello.’ Kotori turned.  The boy who had addressed her sounded a lot like Kamui.  She turned around.  He was sitting slumped down in a chair to her right, reading a book.  They were in the library.  The boy was sitting in a chair, facing towards the windows looking out behind the school, facing a table, around which were three other chairs.  Parallel to the windows and on the other side of a row of tables, including the one the boy was sitting at, was a bookshelf on which new books were put.  It extended up from the librarian’s desk (near the door) to near the table at which the boy sat, and beyond it were bookshelves perpendicular to it.  She circled around and - </span>
  <em>
    <span>He’s Kamui.  Kamui talked to me.  He talked to me without me talking to him.  What happened?  Was he just being shy because he likes me?  No, that’s wishful thinking.</span>
  </em>
  <span> ‘Wh-what?’ </span>
  <em>
    <span>No!  That’s not what I meant to say! </span>
  </em>
  <span>‘Hello.  How are you?’ </span>
  <em>
    <span>Much better.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>‘I… I did not want to talk to you because I did not want to involve you in the end of the world.  You are now involved anyway.  I realised that it would be better to explain this to you directly.’ His face was unreadable.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>He actually still cares about me!  He hasn’t changed much!’</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>‘What are you reading?’</span>
</p><p>
  <span>‘It’s a book on chemistry.’</span>
</p><p>
  <span>‘What?  Indigo dye again?’</span>
</p><p>
  <span>‘Wow, you still remember that?  Also, no, it’s for my chemistry class.’</span>
</p><p>
  <span>‘Yes.’ He paused. ‘Where did you get that idea from?’</span>
</p><p>
  <span>‘No idea.  I think I read about indigo dyers in Edo in a novel and thought it sounded cool.’</span>
</p><p>
  <span>‘Well, at least you didn’t want to be a princess.’</span>
</p><p>
  <span>‘Yeah.  What are you reading?’</span>
</p><p>
  <span>‘I’m researching shukuyoudou.’</span>
</p><p>
  <span>‘Why?’</span>
</p><p>
  <span>‘Sorata trained under the Stargazer of Kouya, apparently.’</span>
</p><p>
  <span>‘He’s a monk!?’</span>
</p><p>
  <span>‘My thoughts too.  He created a gohou, though, and, honestly, nobody who was a fake monk would claim to be one while dressing and talking like Sorata.’</span>
</p><p>
  <span>‘Unless it’s a double bluff.  Or a triple bluff!’</span>
</p><p>
  <span>‘I don’t think so.’</span>
</p><p>
  <span>‘Yeah.  Sorata-san seems too nice to do anything like that.’</span>
</p><p>
  <span>‘I’m pretty sure he’s on my side in the final battle to decide the fate of the world.’</span>
</p><p>
  <span>‘And what is that side?’</span>
</p><p>
  <span>‘I don’t know exactly.  I think it’s the side of preventing the apocalypse, but I’m not sure.’</span>
</p><p>
  <span>‘No, of course it is!  I can’t possibly see either of you fighting to cause the end of the world.’ Kotori had a vague feeling of uncertainty about this statement, though.  </span>
  <em>
    <span>It must be true, though.  Right?</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Mabe Kotori knows something about my opponents.</span>
  </em>
  <span>  ‘Have you seen anything weird happen lately?’</span>
</p><p>
  <span>‘No.’</span>
</p><p>
  <span>‘Do you know how to prevent girls from flirting with you?’</span>
</p><p>
  <span>‘Why do you want to do that?’</span>
</p><p>
  <span>‘Because it’s annoying.  And I am worried that I am going to snap and kill one of them at some point soon.’</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Kotori briefly startled. </span>
  <em>
    <span>No, Kamui would never do that!</span>
  </em>
  <span>  ‘No idea, sorry.  The boys stopped flirting with me after that time Fuuma put one of them in hospital.’</span>
</p><p>
  <span>‘He deserved it, right?’</span>
</p><p>
  <span>‘I… ‘</span>
</p><p>
  <span>‘So, if I beat up one of the girls hard enough-’, said Kamui, sarcastically.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>‘Stop talking like that! They do not deserve to have anything done to them!  And some of them are my friends!’</span>
</p><p>
  <span>‘I don’t think they are worthy of you.’</span>
</p><p>
  <span>‘Oh?’ Kotori’s eyes widened.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>‘If it makes you happier to be around them, that is your decision.  If you prefer any of them to me, I will be fine with that, too.  I want what makes you happiest ;  I still think that you are too smart for them.’ Kamui paused, and turned serious.  He stared out the window. ‘Actually, I would prefer it if you did give up on me.  I am not a safe person to be around.  I think that is my cue to leave.’ He got up and began to walk towards the door.  However, he got a feeling that he had forgotten something and turned backwards, seeing his book lying on the table between their chairs.  He also saw Kotori’s sad and wistful expression.  After picking up his book, he handed a strip of paper to her. ‘This is my phone number.’ Kotori got up and hugged him.  He hugged her back.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>‘So you have returned, and you remember me, and you still care about me’</span>
</p><p>
  <span>‘Yes.  Can I leave now?’ He was clearly uncomfortable.  Kotori released him and he began to walk out of the library again. ‘If you call me and don’t receive a response, it may be because I am busy, or because my phone is broken, or lost, or just because I can’t be bothered to pick it up because I think it’s a spammer.’</span>
</p><p>
  <span>‘I know.  Some of my friends will be dragging me to Akibahara  later today, in case you wanted to know.’</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Sorata sat on the roof of Kamui’s school, dangling his legs off the edge and holding an umbrella above him to shield against the light rain.  The hood of his thin yellow jacket was drawn up over his baseball cap (which was a slightly darker shade of yellow than his jacket, and which he was wearing in the correct direction for once).  The bell rang.  About a minute later, a rush of people came out of it.  He searched for Kamui, but Kamui had warded himself strongly enough that Sorata could not locate him (although Sorata could tell that it was in proximity) and there were too many people dressed almost identically for Sorata to make out Kamui, especially since the people leaving were facing away from him.  </span>
  <em>
    <span>Oops, should have thought of that.</span>
  </em>
  <span> He began tracing the route to Kamui’s house, assuming that that was where he would be going.  After a few minutes of chasing Kamui, during which time the drizzle turned to actual rain, he found him.  Kamui heard his footsteps, looked backwards, and increased his pace to match Sorata.  Given their ability to run, and their ability to jump so high and so far they could almost fly, either of them could have moved much faster, but jumping that high would get too much attention, and running while one's mind was occupied with other things was a good recipe for tripping.</span>
</p><p><span>Sorata increased his speed slightly.  Kamui did not notice.  There was less than a metre between them when Sorata shouted 'Kamui!' Kamui looked at him and then began to speed up.</span><span><br/>
</span> <span>'Kamui!  The end of the world has started at last!'</span></p><p>
  <span>Kamui was about to break into a run.  Sorata grabbed one of his arms.  Kamui whirled around.  His fists clenched, but he was able to restrain himself from starting a fight right then and there.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>'Listen!', shouted Sorata. 'The stargazer of Kouya knew that the shinken would be stolen.  That is why he sent me here.  I am Arisugawa Sorata, one of the Seven Seals.'</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'How-', said Kamui, while Sorata inhaled for his next breath.  Sorata did not notice.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'The priests of Kouya came for me when I was 3 in accordance with the stargazer's divinations.  I don't even remember the faces of my parents.  What I do remember is that my mother didn't want to hand me over so she hugged me until the very last moment.  They say that on the day I left home for Kouya, she stood outside, in the rain, for the whole day, crying.  Kamui, whether you desire it or not, this battle has already started.'</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'Who was it that attacked Ojisan?', shouted Kamui.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'The stargazer said that the shinken would be stolen by one of the Seven Angels.  However, when it appears before Kamui again, it may have changed its appearance.'</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'I returned here in order to take the shinken, and intended to leave immediately after I did.'</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'Kamui, a man you know was severely injured right in front of you and might die.  I understand that you feel like you can't trust anybody, but you've got to understand that the fate of the Earth rides on your slender shoulders.'</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'I agree.', said a woman wearing a grey suit, standing in the trees, a tilted umbrella covering most of her face.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'Who the hell?!'</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'How gallant you are.  Boys.', said Tokiko Magami sarcastically.  She raised her umbrella, revealing her angular face.  She wore dark glasses that obscured her eyes, and her hair was mostly shoulder-length, except for two bundles, one on each side, starting just in front of her ears, which went down to her waist.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'You're the school nurse…', said Kamui, amazed.  This was weird.  Was there a conspiracy here?  Had everything in his school been a setup?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'I am the teacher in the medical room where you brought Kotori.'</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sorata wondered what a medical room teacher was.  Kamui asked her what she wanted.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'You still don't remember?' She reached for her glasses. 'You don't recognise my face?' She took them off.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>In the dim light of the overcast sky, it looked almost identical to Tooru's.  </span>
  <em>
    <span>This must be a trick!</span>
  </em>
  <span>, thought Kamui. 'Mother?' He paused.  'Tooru?'</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'At last you've rem-’ </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sorata, not fully comprehending the situation, responded too quickly, cutting Tokiko off. 'You mean such a lovely and beautiful young woman is your mother!?  Well, you two have certain resemblances, but she doesn't look like a woman with a 15-y-'</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'Kamui was born when I was 14, so that is not it!  Actually, Tooru was my older sister!'</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'Who are you?', asked Kamui.  Unlike Sorata and Tokiko, he was not in any way amused by the situation. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>'Your only relative.', replied Tokiko.  She was no longer smiling.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'Relative?', asked Kamui.  Sorata attempted to make a quick exit from what was clearly an awkward situation, but reconsidered.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'Tooru was my older sister.' Kamui was skeptical of this statement.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'So you're his aunt!', interjected Sorata.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'This is bullshit.  My mother-'</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'Never told you about this?  Perhaps?  The last time I saw your sister, I was still in middle school.  You were not yet born.'</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'Mother never said that she had a sister!'</span>
</p><p>
  <span>‘Right after she graduated from high school, she disappeared from the Magami household.'</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'Wait, your mother's maiden name is Magami?  Like that Magami?', interjected Sorata again, with an excitement in his voice that was rather inappropriate for the situation.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'Well, at least now I can tell he is not an amateur.', said Tokiko, half-sarcastically.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>'I see.  Kamui's mother was from the Magami family.' Kamui just stared amazedly.  This idiot from Kansai was learning about his family at the same time he was.  How could he have not learned or remembered this from earlier?  He resolved to be more enquiring in the future.  Any and every piece of knowledge would be useful.  Why would-</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'Tooru-neesan must never have spoken about the Magami family.' Tokiko was making eye contact with Sorata when she said this.  She was acting as if Kamui was not even in the room.  Kamui made an attempt to talk. 'Kamui.  Have you heard anything concerning your father from Tooru-neesan?', asked Tokiko, cutting him off.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'uh, no.' It was all that Kamui could say.  He was angry at his aunt and Sorata, but he wanted to know more.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>'It figures that she died without telling anything to her son.  She died without telling me either.' Tokiko sighed and rolled her eyes.  Kamui was relieved that his lack of knowledge was not his fault, as it meant that there was no flaw that he desperately needed to fix. 'In the dead of night, on the day before she vanished, she said this to me :  "I bear the child of a man. This is a child I bear for the sake of the Earth." '.  Kamui was shocked.  His eyes opened even wider.  That child must have been him.  </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>How did I never ask my mother about my father?</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>'Hinoto has a message for you.  The shinken has been taken from Togakushi Shrine.  The one who took it is probably one of the Seven Angels.  Now at the side of Kamui is a visitor from Kouyasan, who is one of Seven Seals, as are you, Arashi-dono.  The final battle for the Earth has begun.  Arashi-dono, please be so kind as to protect Kamui to protect the Earth.' Whichever of Hien and Souhi had called Arashi hung up.  </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Rude.</span>
  </em>
  <span>, thought Arashi. </span>
  <em>
    <span>First she calls me "dono" and then she hangs up without letting me ask her anything</span>
  </em>
  <span>.  She noticed somebody.  The man she had noticed was not a person that would ordinarily stand out in a crowd like the one they were in.  He looked like a normal salaryman, wearing a mahogany suit and ice-blue tie over a white shirt, holding an umbrella. He bore an expression on his face that made it seem like he was late for work and trying to hurry, but afraid that he would slip and fall on the wet asphalt.  What was strange about him?  </span>
  <em>
    <span>He has some sort of power, but he’s hiding it.  He doesn’t seem evil or murderous, though.</span>
  </em>
  <span>  She walked towards him, looking to strike up a conversation.  When he saw her approaching, he smiled, his eyes closing.  He turned away, so he now faced an army of black-clad shiki, which were identical to each other and apparently also to the mystery man, other than their clothing and hair.  Casting shikigami required a competent sorcerer, and Arashi did not want to make a commotion.  She raised a kekkai around herself, the mystery man, and the shiki, hoping to isolate the problem.  She briefly got the feeling that there was a fourth presence within the kekkai, but that was clearly absurd.  She checked.  There was nobody else there.  The shiki formed a semi-circle around her, clearly intending to surround her.  The mystery man ran.  Arashi summoned her sword.  The mystery man was not shocked, and the shiki did not seem to care about him.  The shiki attacked.  She cut through them, but there were more in the next wave.  She saw him raising a spell.  Air swirled around his arm, faster and faster.  </span>
  <em>
    <span>He’s a powerful windmaster</span>
  </em>
  <span>.  Arashi thought she was going to be killed.  He attacked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A third of the second wave of shikigami and even more of the third were destroyed in the attack, cut in half.  That man was clearly fighting the shiki, so he was not an enemy of hers, at least at the moment.  Arashi ran towards him.  He raised another spell.  She ducked.  The remaining shiki were destroyed, except one.  No more were coming.  She held it at sword-point.  It did not look identical to the man.  It looked like an imitation based on pictures of him. Arashi, now knowing that there was someone trying to sow distrust between her and her allies, stabbed the shiki. 'Of course they were shiki.’, the man muttered into his breath.  He picked up the shikis' spell cards, crumpled them up, tore them into pieces, and then turned towards Arashi. 'This is a splendid kekkai.  I can't make one this good.'</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'Then you are…'</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'Another of the Seven Seals.'</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Kotori realised that she was somewhere else.  Everything looked grey and white and-</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Am I blacking out or dreaming?  Am I-</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>-no, it doesn’t feel like that.</span>
  </em>
  <span>  She looked around.  Akibahara was exactly as it was before, but monochrome and deserted and not raining.  She remembered that-</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>I must be inside of a barrier field.  The end of the world has really begun, and the final battle for the fate of the world is already being fought.  </span>
  </em>
  <span>She tried to figure out the shape of the barrier field so that she could find out the location of its centre.  She knew that there was a spell that could have derived it, that the spell was relatively simple, and that she had learned it years ago, but she had forgotten the exact procedure, so she would have to look around.  She ran up the fire escape of a nearby building.  It was four stories high, and would take the least amount of time and effort to climb.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Sorata and Kamui closed their eyes, shook their heads, and opened their eyes again. 'My ears are ringing.', said Kamui. 'No, it's something else.'</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'Someone has set up a kekkai.', said Sorata.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>'A kekkai?', asked Kamui.  He still did not know exactly what the word meant.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'I think you understand.  It is near here, and it is huge.  It would take either the Seven Seals or a truly massive machine to make one this powerful.  It's near this area.  The ones connected to the apocalypse are gathering in Tokyo.' Sorata strained to find where the kekkai was.  Usually, he could sense magical distortions, but, although the kekkai was extremely powerful, it was also far away. 'The kekkai is centred in Chiyoda, near Yasukuni, and it is shaped like a pyramid a bit less than 6 kilometres on a side.' </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>3 kilometres of Yasukuni… that would include… </span>
  </em>
  <span>Kamui jumped up, yelling 'Kotori!' .</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'Please return!', shouted Tokiko as he left. 'I will tell you about your mother!  And about the Magami family!  And your destiny!'</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'Wait!  I'll go with you too!', shouted Sorata, running out the door after Kamui.  They jumped onto roofs of buildings on the opposite sides of the street and then ran and jumped across the city.  </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>'Who are you?', asked Arashi.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'I am Seiichirou Aoki, windmaster of the Dragons of Heaven.' His cell-phone rang. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>'...'</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'What, now!?' He turned to Arashi.  'I'm sorry, but I must get to work quickly.  Here's my card!' He handed her his card and then ran. 'See you!' However, he then turned back, and gave Arashi his umbrella. 'Please take this!  A girl shouldn't be cold and wet!' He started running again. 'Bye.  This time it's for real!' Arashi was too shocked to respond until he was gone.  She remained confused.  </span>
  <em>
    <span>Is he crazy?  Also, he actually was late for work and not looking for something intently.  Interesting.  I must have read him wrong.  Right?</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The sky flashed above Kotori, four beams of dark coming out of the ground, meeting sideways of the zenith, and swallowing the kekkai whole.  She heard a loud sound, like a hundred people shouting into her ear and loud machinery and fell to her knees, closing her eyes and covering her ears.  After a few seconds, the noise seemed to fade to a distant background, and she opened her eyes again.  She was on the same building as she had been earlier, but it was now in the correct colours, and there were people on the street below, and-</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>The kekkai was dissolved.  Those fighting for humanity have won!</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Fighting for humanity?  Are you sure?</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Why did I just think that?  Well, now I have to get down to the bottom floor and meet my friends again without anyone noticing me.  This is going to be interesting.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>'The kekkai has been dispelled.', said Sorata, as he and Kamui jumped onto a skyscraper near where the edge of the kekkai had been.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>‘Is Kotori safe?’</span>
</p><p>
  <span>‘Yes!’ Kamui sighed in relief. 'That woman!  Kamui!' , shouted Sorata.  Kamui looked in the direction he was pointing.  He recognised the sig of the girl with the sword.  Kamui and Sorata jumped down.  Kamui prepared for a fight.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'I came here to meet you.', said Arashi.  </span>
  <em>
    <span>She looks different from when we were on the skyscraper</span>
  </em>
  <span>, thought Kamui.  </span>
  <em>
    <span>She looked angry then.  Now, she looks calm, as if this is all completely normal and she wants to be friends with us.  This is bizarre.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>'What did you say?!'</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'Kamui, wait a minute.  Pretty miss, were you the one who put the kekkai up?' Sorata smiled at her and winked.  Kamui sighed and facepalmed before walking to a distance at which he could hear them if they said anything important but tune them out if they were futzing around.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'And are you the visitor from Kouya.'</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'So you're also one of the seven seals.'</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'Another was here, but-'</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'Another?' Sorata was surprised and slightly scared by how fast things seemed to be moving.  </span>
  <em>
    <span>That’s three of us.  Four if you count Kamui.  It’s not even the middle of April.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>'The windmaster.  Aoki Seiichirou-san.  He had a phone call and had to leave.' Sorata got confused.  That sounded awfully mundane for a Dragon of Heaven.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Kamui took this opportunity to (literally) jump back into the conversation. 'Why did you mess with me earlier?'</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'The battle was already over.  There was no use hurting him further!' Even Kamui could tell that Arashi was making a good point, but he decided that he was not going to admit it or even change his facial expression.  Arashi then realised what was happening. 'Or did you really intend to kill him.' She looked scared.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Kamui was not sure whether he did or not.  It was hard to remember what he was feeling then, given that he was in the middle of a massive adrenaline rush.  He might have, given that he had thought Saiki worked for whoever killed his mother.  Kamui decided to make sure that neither Arashi or Sorata would mess with him.  He put on his best unhinged smile and said 'I'll kill anyone who screws with me!  No matter who.'</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sorata decided that he needed to break up the potential fight right there. He positioned himself between Arashi and Kamui, who were staring each other down (or at least trying to ;  neither of them were tall enough or had the correct face shape to look menacing). 'When two beautiful people glare like that, I get scared!' Despite what Sorata thought, neither of them wanted a fight :  Arashi had no reason to start one and Kamui was bluffing.  Kamui walked away again. 'I choose you, miss.', said Sorata.  Arashi had no clue what he meant. Sorata laughed.  Kamui rolled his eyes.  Sorata realised the awkwardness of the situation. 'It looks like nothing's changed.  Kotori-chan is almost certainly unhurt.  By the way, where was she?'</span>
</p><p>
  <span>‘Akiba.  With some of her friends.'</span>
</p><p>
  <span>‘Haha!  Well, she would have been fine even if the kekkai broke, since I don’t think the fight was very big.’</span>
</p><p>
  <span>‘No, it was just me and the windmaster versus some shiki in one city block.  I don’t think any buildings got damaged even within the kekkai.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'Well, shall we return to Magami-san's house?' Sorata was smiling again.  When Sorata smiled, he was so charming that Kamui did not start a fight when Sorata threw his left arm around Kamui's shoulders.  'How about coming with us, miss?' He began leading an extremely annoyed Kamui down the sidewalk.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'Magami!?'</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'The fact that you reacted to the name Magami proves that you aren't an ordinary person, either.' He turned around, pointing at Kamui, who made a face that indicated that he wanted no part in this and that he would like it a lot if Arashi rescued him. 'It's something you are also involved in, miss.  The mystery of this Kamui, I suppose.'</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Kamui decided to rescue himself, jumping into the air fast enough to dislodge Sorata's arm.  The two others followed.  They saw a fire burning over-</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'Tokiko-san's house!!' </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The house was blazing.  One of the walls had collapsed and fire was streaming out.  There was clearly nothing salvageable remaining.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'They beat us here.', said Sorata.  Kamui just stared.  He saw-</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'Mother!  Mother's still inside of there!' He tried to run into the building.  Sorata and Arashi grabbed his arms. 'Hurry!  Hurry!  Mother- -still inside- -stil inside-'</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'Wait!  Kamui!', shouted Sorata.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'LET GO!', screamed Kamui. 'SHE'S STILL INSIDE!'</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'There is nobody inside!  Nobody could survive in that!', shouted Sorata.  </span>
  <em>
    <span>Also, Tokiko is his aunt, not his mother, right?</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Kamui broke down, putting his head between his knees and crying. 'So she's dead?'</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'No.  I can usually tell if a death's just happened where I am.  She probably got out.  Or maybe she got kidnapped and this was just an attempt to destroy the evidence.  Or she was out at the time.  Or they were trying to destroy something in the house.  Maybe information about something else?  Or an artifact?' While Sorata was listing various possibilities for what could have happened, Kamui collected himself and got back on his feet. 'Anyway, I think we better get the hell out of here.  It's past time for the police and spectators to show up.  I'm sorry that it turned out this way and I'm sorry that I invited you here but would you please stay with us a little longer…' Sorata trailed off, realising that he was rambling again.  He tended to ramble when he was in denial about being stressed out. 'Kamui, it seems as if the situation is moving faster than expected.  First Kyougo was attacked, now Tokiko-san is missing.  These are the opening shots of a battle.'</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'I want to look for her.  How about we split up and look for a magic signature that matches hers?', proposed Arashi.  </span>
  <em>
    <span>Oh wait, how will we contact each other?</span>
  </em>
  <span> 'What are your cell-phone numbers, by the way?'</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They shared their numbers.</span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <span>Fuuma was floating in a dark void.  The void had a webbed, filamentous pattern of dark grey.  Had he known what the cosmic web looked like, he would have realised that it was the pattern of the web.  </span>
  <em>
    <span>Where is this place?</span>
  </em>
  <span> He saw a sphere floating in front of him. </span>
  <em>
    <span>This is Earth, but something's inside.  A person.  A woman?</span>
  </em>
  <span>  She wore an elaborate white robe decorated with dark blue occult symbols and her hair looked like vines made of frost.  She lifted herself up.  On her forehead was a pattern :  a vertical eye with two inward-turned semicolons, one on each side, and three snaking lines approached her eye, one from each side and one over the centre of her nose.  She wore a bracelet shaped like a snake wrapping around her arm three times,</span>
</p><p>
  <span>(at last I've found you) (save us)</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'Save...us?' Fuuma had no idea what she meant.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>(save the Earth)</span>
</p><p>
  <span>This confused him even more. 'What's going on?'</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The dream changed.  He heard the sound of children laughing.  Everything was featureless and white.  He turned.  His feet were on a hard surface.  He saw himself, Kamui, Kotori, and their mothers, as they were before Saaya had died.  </span>
  <em>
    <span>With no father, Kamui was probably lonely, but he always smiled.  Just seeing that smiling face, I was also happy.  I was happy, just that Kamui-chan and Kotori-chan were laughing.  I was happy, long ago.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Feathers fell.  A sound of ripples in water, and of gears.  He heard a scream.  He was in Togakushi Shrine.  He saw Saaya.  She was dead.  He could not find her head.  He left through a window.  Her head was there.  It was being held by a child.  Kamui.  There was blood on his hands and his face.  Feathers fell.  The world was swamped by what looked like TV static.  An image of Kamui as he was now flashed across the static.  He reached out to Fuuma and dissolved.  In his place was Kyougo.  He gestured, and the word folded in on itself, layer upon layer of reflective plates falling out of the background, shrinking and swirling.  Each of them reflected a scene of Tokyo, destroyed, with only Tokyo Tower and the Government Building left undamaged.  The panes shrunk to nothingness.  A sword flew into Kyougo's chest.  Blood spewed from the entry and exit wounds and his head.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'Fuuma...you are Kamui's…'</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'Father!', shouted Fuuma, but there was no use.  Kyougo fell to the ground.  Fuuma knelt. 'Father…'</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Kyougo's body melted.  Fuuma found himself standing in a field of rubble.  There were unfamiliar buildings around him.  Visibility was around 100 metres, due to fog.  There was a gigantic cross, with wires stretching out of it and connecting to the buildings.  These wires bound Kotori's body to a cross. 'Onii-chan.', she said, feebly struggling to escape.  Her voice made her sound like she was broken, all but given up on life, and she was crying.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Kamui appeared.  He had been perched behind the cross, and he had wings like a bat, but gigantic, the size of his body.  He wore a mad and wide-eyed grin.  He held the shinken over his head.  He brought his hands down in a wide arc.  The sword entered her chest, stabbing her through the heart, before continuing through the cross.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'Kotori!', screamed Fuuma.  Kamui pulled the sword out of Kotori, and he then leapt towards Fuuma.  Fuuma closed his eyes, awaiting the death blow.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It never came.  When Fuuma opened his eyes again, he was back in the white void, and that woman was back, floating inside a sphere, transparent except for the outlines of the Earth's coasts. 'This is a dream.  Such things are dreams.'</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'Right.  This is a dream.', said Fuuma.  He was too shocked after the dream to fully register what she was saying.  He stared at the feathers that littered the ground.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'This is a dream.  But this is also the future, which may come to pass.'</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Fuuma returned to his senses fully.  If this was a prediction of the future, he would have to do everything he could to change it. 'How can I change this?'</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'In order to save that girl, and the Earth, you have to kill Kamui.' She reached out, shattering the sphere.  There was a mad look in her eyes.  Fuuma fainted.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Two men stood atop Tokyo Tower, wearing black military uniforms.  They saw smoke rising into the air and turned their high-power binoculars on its source.  Upon seeing its cause, one laughed and one cried.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>‘Mister!  I've been trying to call you for, like, an hour now!', said Sorata.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'Oh, yeah.  I accidentally dropped the burner somewhere.  It's a good thing I left a sig on it, or I never would have found it.'</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'Burner phone?  Like in a spy movie?'</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'It's always good to be cautious.'</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'Kamui being cautious.  Nice.  You just want to LARP as James Bond.'</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'No, what I'm doing is more awesome than James Bond.'</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'What, searching for a burner phone you dropped while looking for your aunt?  You should have just retraced your steps.'</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'I forgot my steps.' </span>
  <em>
    <span>And I spent more than an hour searching for a cell phone in a bland suburb where all of the houses look more or less identical.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>'Great.  So we could have just been following each other around?'</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'Maybe.  Why are you calling?' </span>
  <em>
    <span>Did you find her?</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>'I'm actually in my apartment right now.  Arashi and I gave up for the day when you went incommunicado.'</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'Why the hell did you give up!?  This is-'</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'Not going to change by tomorrow.  They probably could have killed her, but she is not dead.  Provided that she was in the house at the time and was kidnapped, they're keeping her alive and we can save her later.  If she wasn't in the house, then she doesn't need saving.  We should do this when we're not tired, too :  we might have to fight someone.  I can tell that you are tired, too.  You wouldn't have dropped the phone otherwise.'</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>You make a good point.  </span>
  </em>
  <span>'Fine.'</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'By the way, why did you sig a burner phone?  If somebody who knows how to identify it finds it, they'll know it was you.'</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'I didn't put a Kamui sig on it, idiot.  I put a generic ice-master sig, and it's one that I can erase.  Besides, the reason I have burner phones is to prevent people from tracking me, pestering me, or-'</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'Phones?  Multiple of them?'</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'Duh.  They're called "burner phones" because you're supposed to burn through them!  By the way, Sorata, you seem less jokey right now?'</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'Maybe it's because you seem more like a bro over the phone than in person?'</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'A bro?'</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'Yeah, another guy.  You look like a pretty girl, so it's hard to take you as seriously when I can see you.  Also, your voice sounds lower over-'</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Kamui hung up.  He jumped onto the roof of the tallest building nearby and looked for his house.  After finding it, he began to run towards it, having wasted hours of the afternoon.</span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
<br/>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I have spread the events of the beginning of X out a bit more than in the original version :  it makes no sense for everything to happen in two days!  Also, almost everyone has cellphones, the kekkai are smaller, Kotori is a bit more active, and the CLAMP Campus Detectives are showing up earlier.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Intermezzo</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Volume 4 and the first part of Volume 5</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>April 3</p><p>Sakurazuka Seishirou adjusted his glasses before parting the red curtains that obscured the back of the restaurant.  There were wards positioned there, although their purpose seemed to be limited to soundproofing the room, rather than preventing entrance.  Inside the room were two men seated at opposite sides of a square wooden table.  The wall of the room was panelled with dark wood up to about halfway to the ceiling.  Above that was a painting showing multiple dragons fighting.  Seishirou briefly wondered whether the room had been selected for that specific reason.  The older of the two men sitting at the table was General Okada of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police, and the younger man was Imonoyama Tsuzuku, a scion of the rich and powerful Imonoyama family. All three wore black suits, white shirts, and expressions of calculated unreadability, but Seishirou could still sense Tsuzuku’s discomfort at the thought of meeting him.  Seishirou and Tsuzuku also wore sunglasses, although for different reasons.  Seishirou’s were made to look unassuming and help him blend into a crowd, while Tsuzuku’s aided his vision and helped conceal his near-blindness.  The two sitting men got up.  Seishirou and Okada bowed to each other.  Seishirou then bowed to Tsuzuku, and Tsuzuku bowed in return.  Seishirou took a seat, wincing.  His latest assignment had been against a particularly powerful sorcerer who had refused to cooperate with the government.  Although that man now was in a morgue, he had managed to injure Seishirou to an extent that would have put him in the hospital for weeks had he not been a Dragon.  Also, shortly prior to the fight, his opponent had attempted to magically shatter his glasses into his eyes.  Although his opponent had not noticed the ward that prevented fragments from flying inward, and had not realised that he had only one eye, his glasses were destroyed, and he had been forced to use a backup pair that had somehow become slightly loose at some point in the previous few years.</p><p>‘What is my assignment?’, asked Seishirou.  He had never before received one from Tsuzuku Imonoyama, and speculated that Tsuzuku was acting as a proxy for someone who did not want to enter the same room as the sakurazukamori, as Tsuzuku did not seem like the kind of person who would be willing to commission an assassin.</p><p>‘On the 31st of March, a person who appears to be the Kamui arrived in Tokyo.’, began Tsuzuku.</p><p>‘Your policies indicate that I should have been alerted about that at the time.’, interjected Seishirou, in a calm and unemotional near-monotone voice.</p><p>Tsuzuku continued the briefing, as that was the best way to answer Seishirou. ‘We still have not confirmed the identity of the intruder as the Kamui, and there are… some indications that he may be faking his identity.  Day-before-yesterday, he got into a fight with the windmaster Saiki Daisuke-shi.  Saiki lost, badly, and would have been killed had someone else, whose identity I will not disclose, not intervened.  Later today, the Kamui, or whoever he is, will meet with Hinoto-hime under the Diet Building.  Saiki-san will also be there, and he seems to be looking for a rematch.’</p><p>‘So, who am I supposed to take out?  Kamui or Saiki?’</p><p>‘Neither.  Your job is to prevent anyone from getting killed.’</p><p>‘I’m the sakurazukamori.  My job is to kill.’</p><p>Tsuzuku sighed. ‘You have been assigned missions that do not involve killing before.’</p><p>Seishirou leaned back in his chair. ‘What am I supposed to do?’</p><p>‘You will sit in the National Diet Building’s monitoring room and watch the security feed of Hinoto’s chamber.  If you think somebody is about to get severely injured or killed, drop your concealment wards and project a maboroshi into the room, encompassing all of its occupants.  Make it seem threatening, but not actually dangerous.  We don’t want anyone getting badly hurt.  Is this clear?’</p><p>‘Yes, I understand.  Why did you select me for this?’</p><p>‘You are not the only person we can think of with the right combination of plausible, and plausibly deniable, threat, and the ability to project illusions at a distance, to assume this mission, but you are by far the best candidate, and you happen to be the closest at hand.’</p><p>Seishirou considered this for the better part of a minute, before saying ‘Well, it’s not like I would get any interesting assignments in my current state, anyway.’ and returning to sitting normally in his chair.</p><p>‘Before you leave, I would like a demonstration of the illusion field you plan to use.’, said Okada.</p><p>‘Before you leave, but after I do.’, responded Tsuzuku.</p><p>‘I think we should take our orders now.’, said Seishirou, disabling the isolation wards around the room.</p><p> </p><p>Kamui received a call from Sorata, requesting that he come to a yakiniku near the Imperial Palace.  Sorata stated that there was something important he wanted to tell Kamui in person.</p><p> </p><p>Kamui and Sorata on one side of a square table, with Arashi sitting across from Kamui next to an empty chair.  The wall behind Kamui and Sorata was a giant window.  Through it, Arashi gazed at the buildings of Chiyoda Prefecture, trying to memorise what they looked like, because she was hungry and tired and the only other thing she could think of doing to take her mind off of her hunger and tiredness was talking with these idiots.  She barely noticed when a waitress showed up and asked for orders.  Sorata had warned them that, on the other side of the wall, they would likely be served later than they would be otherwise, but he and Kamui valued their privacy more, and Arashi agreed, a decision she now sorely regretted.</p><p>'The finest kalbi and tanshio, and top sirloin…' Sorata was ordering food for himself, Arashi and Kamui, who was bored and too busy thinking to really be aware of what was going on around him. 'Miss, how about some liver-sashi?' Sorata was hungry for it, but did not want to seem greedy.  </p><p>'...yes.', said Arashi, realising what was going on.</p><p>'Eat some liver too, Kamui.  You're already small!'</p><p>This comment snapped Kamui back to reality. 'What!?'</p><p>'Liver is full of nutrition, so eat up!'</p><p>'You bastard!'</p><p>Sorata ignored this interjection, continuing to talk to a (mildly embarrassed) waitress. 'Reimen for three, after that.  Can you also bring yukke and baribari salad?'</p><p>'Certainly, sir?', said the waitress, perplexed at how three teenagers could eat that much food.  She failed to realise that the types of magic they used required them to stock up on energy and nutrients, or even that they could use magic at all.</p><p>'Why did we have to come to some place like a yakinikuya?', lamented Kamui.</p><p>'Well, you can't fight on an empty stomach, you know!  I decided that, if I ever came to Tokyo, I would eat at this yakinikuya.  The baribari restaurant in front of the Gaien is really cool!'</p><p>Arashi did not know what to say.</p><p>'It's all right, miss.  Of course, the bill is on me.' Sotto voce, he added 'Eating yakiniku surrounded by two beauties.  I'm the happiest dude in the world.'</p><p>This was not sotto voce enough.  Kamui stood up.  Then, the waitress returned, carrying their food. 'Here are the kalbi, tan-shio and top sirloin you ordered.' Arashi gazed at the food as if it was, in some way, more important than the battle for the end of the world.  Clearly, she had been very hungry.</p><p>'Ooh, it's here!  Let's eat!' He then added 'Kamui, it's bad manners to stand and eat, though I understand that you get impatient.' Kamui clenched his fists and raised them.  He then decided that this was not a place to fight.  Sorata did not notice this. 'Miss, you're familiar with this food, aren't you?' He then noticed that Kamui was still standing. 'Hey, Kamui, hurry up and sit down.' In a gesture of defiance, Kamui walked off.  He did not feel nearly as hungry as the other two.  Sorata thought about what he could say that would induce Kamui to return to the table. 'I do not understand what Tokiko-san was about to tell us about your destiny.  However, since I do know about your mother's family, I can explain that to you.' Kamui stopped walking and looked over his shoulder to glare at Sorata and Arashi (who glared back).  Sorata realised that his strategy was working. 'It is for this reason-' He put some of the food into his mouth.  It was far hotter than he expected. 'Aah!  This kalbi is already cooked!' He closed his eyes firmly and grimaced.  Kamui decided that this was a fitting punishment, and so sat down. Sorata continued. 'The maiden name of your mother was Magami, which is written 真神.  真 is the "shin" in "shinjitsu" and 神 is "kami".  Those of the Magami family are shadow offerings.'</p><p>'Shadow offering?', asked Kamui.  He had never heard of this term.  He was angry that a brat from Osaka knew more about his family than he did, but he knew that antagonising Sorata would just mean that he would not find anything else out, and his anger was not really focused on Sorata :  he was just the most obvious target.  Kamui knew that none of this was his fault.</p><p>'Kamui, do you know about migawari?' Seeing the blank look on Kamui's face, he explained further. 'It's the doll used in ancient sorcery that received various misfortune and troubles, as a substitute for a human being.'</p><p>'That's what it is.', mumbled Kamui.</p><p>'As for shadow-offering, by becoming the "shadow" of another person, they become an "offering", receiving all their misfortune in their place.'</p><p>'In other words, a living migawari-doll.' Kamui stared.  <em> This is a crazy idea!  How could anyone do this to themselves?  Was this why my mother died?  If she had been willing to do this, no wonder she never told me! </em></p><p>Sorata continued. 'By becoming the shadow-offerings of nobles and important politicians, they receive the misfortune that these other people receive.  That is the occupation of House Magami.  Nobody knows who each Magami is tied to.  Even to the people of Kouyasan, the Magami are mysterious.  Some say that members of the Imperial Family are under the care of House Magami, and others say that about half of Japan's prime ministers have had shadow offerings.'</p><p>'Mother was…' This was a lot to take in, and Kamui was still trying to analyse what he had just heard.</p><p>Sorata continued to ramble. 'The misfortunes of leading figures in Japan are no laughing matter!  They probably have many deep grudges against them, and if any of them make a wrong move, they can get in deep shit!  Deeper than assassination, sometimes!' Sorata wanted, for some reason, to control the conversation, but he had ran out of things to say, so he summarised his explanation. 'The people of House Magami, by making themselves into shadow-offerings, manipulate events so that the misfortunes of the supplicants fall on themselves again.  It also seems they have knowledge of techniques to avoid this misfortune.  They're not ordinary sorcerers, you know?  Because they are protecting the guys who support Japan while putting themselves in danger!' (Sorata had a very optimistic view of Japanese politicians.)  He then switched to wondering about Kamui's mother. 'The mother who bore Kamui...I wondered what kind of incredible person she was, but of course she was a Magami.  Certainly, as a Magami, she was highly qualified to become the mother of Kamui.'</p><p>Kamui blinked.  He could not open his eyes again.  Images flashed before him.  Himself, as a child, with his mother.  Flames.  He used his fingers to force his eyelids open, snapping himself back to reality. 'Mother was burned to death.'</p><p>'I think that is incorrect.', said Arashi, failing to realise that Kamui would know the truth better than anyone, or perhaps believing that someone was lying. 'You said your mother was burned alive.  When was this?'</p><p>Kamui's fist was clenched and shaking under the table, but he allowed the line of questioning to go on, in the hope that Arashi would somehow reveal that his mother had faked death.  <em> After all, if she had lied, even by omission, about her background to this extent, and the Magami were as influential as they seemed, of course she could have done that! </em> '...two weeks ago.'</p><p>'If she was of the Magami family, and she was also a woman possessing the qualities needed to become the mother of Kamui, she would almost certainly have become the shadow-offering of someone very important for Japan.  If your mother, who was a shadow-offering, passed away by being enveloped in flames, then the other one must have either escaped being killed in fire or been burned to death.  I do not recall having heard about any important people escaping death by fire or being burned to death, nor have I heard any such rumours.  Either something very important and very secret is going on, or somebody is lying.'</p><p>Sorata caught a flaw in her logic instantly. 'Remember that every occult security agency in the occult world is very secretive.  Except, like, Zambia's.  Obviously, we are secretive.  But you would not be able to tell given how loudly we are talking, ha-ha!  They probably think we are talking about a fantasy novel!' After this self-deprecating joke, he returned to seriousness. 'Even among the people who know about the inner workings of Japanese government and intelligence agencies, few know about, like, this, and even fewer know about' Sorata leaned over and started whispering. 'The apocalypse.  Because they -sorry, we- are the top secret guys.' Kamui looked at him disappointedly.  'Even at Kouya, there are only ten or so people who know about it.  Miss, to be so well-informed, especially about things like House Magami… where do you fit in?' Arashi's face looked blank. 'Sumeragi?  No, I don't think so.  If one of the Seals was a Sumeragi, they would have become head of the family, and I'm pretty sure the current head of the family is a guy.  Actually, no, I hear there's a bastard who’s pretty powerful, but I think he's a guy too.' He rattled off a list of shrines, until he reached 'O-Ise-san?' Arashi recoiled and started sweating. 'Miss…' Sorata leaned even further toward Arashi and Kamui's side of the table, and especially toward Arashi, so that his face was about a quarter of a metre from hers.  Kamui moved himself and his plate well out of the way.  'You're really a beauty!  Of course, I've picked you!'</p><p>'What do you mean?'</p><p>Sorata smiled and winked. 'Well, we've eaten.’  Sorata got up, walked over to an employee, and asked him for a receipt. 'Our stomachs are full.  Miss, will you guide us now?' It was supposed to sound romantic.  In reality, it just sounded like a dorky imitation of romantic.  Kamui tried to tune out of the conversation.  Arashi was simply confused.</p><p>'To where?'</p><p>'My grandfather the star-gazer said : "Go to the centre of Japanese politics.  One of the five most spiritually screwed up places in Japan.  The Diet Building.  The dreaming princess lives beneath it."' He turned to Kamui. 'This princess will probably tell you the rest.'</p><p>'I seriously doubt the star-gazer of Kouya used the words "screwed up".'</p><p>'Haha, I was just paraphrasing.'</p><p> </p><p>Fuuma was still asleep when Kotori got a call from the hospital.  She jumped, and felt her heart pounding in her chest.  Picking up the phone, she said ‘What…’ </p><p>‘Your father is in a stable enough condition for visitation, although he’s still unconscious.’</p><p>Kotori’s anxiety melted away. ‘Th-th-th-thank you.  I will be there soon.’</p><p> </p><p>'Excuse me, driver, can you give me a receipt?'</p><p>'Why the hell should I?' The taxi driver had had a long day, and did not want to give any surplus of effort.</p><p>'This means my life, you see.  Because, without my receipt, I can't acknowledge my expenses.' He smiled brightly.  The taxi driver sighed and gave in, making sure that the receipt fell on the ground and Sorata had to pick it out of the gutter, before driving away fast.  Sorata used some sort of spell to cause the grime on his hand and the receipt to drip back into the gutter. 'Thank you for your trouble.', snarked Sorata, waving at the receding taxi-cab.  After this, he turned to Arashi, who had stopped in her tracks. 'You're still hesitating?  Is it OK for you to take Kamui and I to the princess, beneath that?' He pointed to the Diet Building.</p><p>Arashi gave him a disappointed look, blinked slowly, and sighed. 'Don't worry, don't worry, the princess already knows I'm here with Kamui.  After all, she's the dreaming princess who moves Japanese politics from behind the scenes.' Arashi showed some kind of card to the guards, who let the three of them in.  She led them down a series of hallways and elevators until they entered the chamber where Hinoto-hime sat.  While the rest of the building was modern, made of stone, glass, plastic and steel, Hinoto's room looked like a room of a traditional Japanese house, with wooden walls and a wooden floor.  Hinoto sat on a raised circular platform.  In front of the platform were two women, dressed in traditional clothing (red for one, blue for the other, with ornate yellow patterns that looked vaguely plant-like, and black characters that red "HIEN" and "SOUHI") over modern black shirts and black trousers.  Above Hinoto's platform, there was a circle of raised roof, at the centre of which was an electric light that, strangely, did not feel out of place, creating a circle of light around Hinoto, which Hien and Souhi were also in.  </p><p>(I have been waiting for the visitor from Kouya and Kamui)</p><p><em> It's her! </em>, thought Kamui.  He clenched his fists.  The entire room became cold and the electric light dimmed.  A wave of light swirled around Kamui.  He made his hair stand on end, trying to look like that guy from Dragon Ball, which he thought would be intimidating. (He did not realise that Hinoto had not even heard of Dragon Ball, and that, without context, it just looked silly).  </p><p>'What!?', shouted Hien and Souhi, immediately springing to combat stances, as Arashi and Sorata stepped towards Hinoto while turning towards Kamui.  Kamui began to run towards Hinoto, Hien and Souhi.</p><p>'Kamui!' Arashi grabbed his arm.  Sorata grabbed him around the chest, disrupting his attack, while simultaneously creating a spell that disrupted Kamui's.  The light went out. 'You can't start a fight here!'</p><p>'Let go!', shouted Kamui. 'It's her!'</p><p>(I apologise for the rudeness the other day) Kamui gulped, blinked hard, and breathed deeply.  Sorata let him go.  He was furious, but it was hard for him to attack in the dark when he did not know where anyone or anything was.  He started to calm down.  Hinoto's clothes started glowing. (I beg of you please listen to my words for the sake of the Earth and for your own sake) Hien turned the lights back on, including ones that were hidden in holes in the roof and were not on when Kamui, Sorata and Arashi entered.</p><p>'My sake?', said Kamui.  <em> What could she possibly mean?  How could it help me to listen to some stupid girl who thinks she's a princess? </em>  He glared in a way that may have actually been intimidating.  Hinoto, being unable to see, did not notice it.</p><p>(I shall show you things of the Earth things of the future then things about yourself)</p><p>'About me?' <em> Another person knows more about me than I do? </em> 'You'll show me strange dreams again, won't you?  Those unpleasant dreams.  I bet those are not real,  just your sick fantasies.' Kamui rolled his eyes.  </p><p>'Why?  You!', shouted Hien.</p><p>'How dare you mock our princess!', shouted Souhi.  The two of them assumed fighting stances and drew swords.</p><p>(S T O P), commanded Hinoto.  Her eyes lit up.  Kamui was knocked backwards by two metres, landing in a front stance with his arms still crossed across his chest.  Hien and Souhi stopped mid-motion.  Sorata was temporarily blinded and staggered backwards.  Arashi was only slightly shocked, and was able to keep Sorata from falling.</p><p>'Geez, she's one mean princess.', said Sorata. 'When will I be able to see again?'</p><p>'She isn't like this normally.' Arashi looked puzzled. 'The spell will wear off in a couple of seconds.'</p><p>(a star from Kouya)</p><p>Sorata was shocked.  This must have been addressed to him!  He blinked, and his sight came back. 'Eh?'</p><p>(I thank you for protecting Kamui)</p><p>Sorata did not know how to respond.  The best thing that he could come up with was 'Well, if you thank me like that, I'm at a loss.  Will you stop, please?  I did nothing!' He jumped onto the raised platform.  Hinoto bent at the waist.  It was clearly intended to be a bow, but it looked more like part of her body was rotating on a hinge.  Sorata was unnerved. 'Um, you really don't need to bow, uh, come on!' </p><p>Everybody in the room ignored that. (one of the Seven Seals who was raised at Kouya I am glad we could meet), continued Hinoto.  Sorata decided that she looked kind of cute.  Her eyes were white and glowing and kind of creepy, but, other than that, she looked sort of like a cute girl.  Sorata found it hard to reconcile that face with the person who had cast the spell less than a minute earlier and looked mechanical when she moved.  He forgave her completely.</p><p>'And I'm lucky to have met the famous dreaming princess under the Diet Building.  The stubborn star-gazer of Kouya seemed to be very fond of you.  Do you know him, princess?'</p><p>(I have never met with the astrologer priest who raised you)</p><p>She thought some more stuff at Sorata, but it was too philosophical for him, and he decided to stare at her face a bit more.  He eventually cut her off with 'But I also like you, princess!  You look far younger than your actual age!' Hinoto's irises appeared.  He smiled at her.  She smiled back.  Her face looked normal in that moment, except for the image of a vertical eye tattooed on her forehead, with three snaking designs approaching it.  Kamui looked at Hien and Souhi.  Thankfully, they were still in the positions in which they had been frozen.  <em> Good.  That comment would not have gone down well with them </em>.  Sorata jumped back down off of the platform.  He tapped Kamui on his shoulder.  Kamui flinched backwards and scowled.  All of the lights except the one above Hinoto went out. 'Kamui, there is something that you want to know.  That is why you came to the Diet Building with me.  And also to the yakinikuya.'</p><p>'You forced me to go to that yakinikuya!'</p><p>'Right, right.  But you liked it!'</p><p>'It was certainly good.', said Arashi.</p><p>Sorata then grabbed Kamui's chin. 'Bastard!!', shouted Kamui.  He was too surprised to start a fight.  Sorata turned Kamui's face towards his.</p><p>'Don't worry.  If anything happens to you, I will throw my body in the way, and help you somehow.  That is my destiny.' Sorata was smiling.  Kamui was not.  He had no idea what to make of this.</p><p>'What-'</p><p>'Please don't make out in the princes's room!', shouted a now unfrozen Hien.</p><p>'It is extremely disrespectful.  Find your own room.', added Souhi.</p><p>Kamui blacked out.</p><p> </p><p>Fuuma woke up.  He had a splitting headache and was still very tired.  He turned on a lamp and checked the clock.  His soccer game was in an hour. </p><p>‘Uggggh.’, he said, lifting himself up.  He had not slept well. ‘Kotori.’ He took another look at the wall.  There was a note stuck to it. “Currently visiting Dad in hospital”. </p><p>‘Shit.’ He felt sorry about this as soon as he said it.  <em> I should not expect my sister to take care of me, especially not with her health being the way it is, and after this, and I should care more about that this means that my father is still alive and may be awake and- </em> this snapped him back to reality.  He remembered the nightmare he had had as his headache subsided.  <em> What is going on? </em>  He started to walk downstairs.</p><p> </p><p>Kamui was floating in space.  Hinoto was floating, too.  Her eyes looked like stars.  The Earth floated between them.  It was rotating slowly. (Kamui) Hinoto pointed at Japan.  No, at a specific place in Japan.</p><p>'Tokyo?'</p><p>Kamui felt the Earth flying off sideways and rapidly growing larger.  Tokyo was beside him.  The void turned blue, then white, then yellow.  He turned, sideways, and then hit the ground hard enough to shock but not hard enough to hurt.  He was in a desert.  His feet were buried in sand, but it was not getting in his shoes.  He was in Tokyo.  It was covered by a desert.  The buildings were decrepit and falling over.  They looked as if they were being eaten away.  The shorter ones were covered in sand.  He saw the Government Building, intact.  He saw his school.  All the windows had been blown out.  It looked eerily deserted, like Pripyat.  He walked through the wasteland.  There were corpses strewn about.  Many were dismembered. Some looked as if they were partially dissolved.  He heard the voice of a girl.</p><p>'Mom!  Mom!  Mother!  Get up!' There was blood on her face.  Her mother was lying on the ground in front of her with a steel beam on her.  She was clearly dead.</p><p>Kamui sat down beside her. 'I'm sorry.' He tried to put his hand on her shoulder.  It went through her.  He pulled it back out.</p><p>'We have crossed over into a dream.' He looked behind him, and saw a woman.  She was Hinoto, but she did not look like Hinoto.  She was standing, her hair was down, and her eyes looked normal. 'You cannot touch anything in a dream with your dream body.'</p><p>Kamui had a lot of questions.  He started with the most obvious one. 'Where is this place?  This desert, and all these people!  Is this also a dream?'</p><p>The symbol on Hinoto's forehead reappeared.  The sand swirled around Kamui, swallowing him, pulling him down, down to-</p><p>'Tokyo.  The same Tokyo as always.' The feathers from before fell towards the roof of the building that Kamui stood on, then passed through it.  He heard a sound of cracking and screeching metal, and looked towards it.  Chasms were forming, seemingly spontaneously, in the centres of streets, with light coming out.  As he looked, he saw a pattern emerging.  A 6-2 hexagram with circumscribed circle, centred at Tokyo Tower.  As he watched, the light resolved itself into shapes that launched themselves into the air. ‘What the hell!  Are those dragons??' A dragon launched itself towards the building on which Kamui stood, shattering every building in its path.  He saw a bubble form between the dragon and the building, floating in the air.  In it was Kamui, another Kamui.  The other Kamui retreated, towards the building on which Kamui's dream-body stood.  The other Kamui and the dragon attacked each other.  There was a flash of blinding light.  When it subsided, Kamui found himself in a featureless black void, with feathers falling around him, far more rapidly than they had been before.  The void, he realised, was not a void.  He was standing on a black surface, with friction.  There was a centimetre or so of water on top of that surface ;  this did not reach beyond the soles of his shoes, so he did not notice them.  The feathers would make a beautiful noise and rippling when they fell into the water, before slowly dissolving.  In front of him, the water began to bulge upwards.  The feathers stopped falling.  The bulge in the water formed itself into the shape of Hinoto. 'What the hell was that dragon?  And that earthquake...'</p><p>(that was the dragon of earth the seven dragons will awake and then they will tear Tokyo and the Earth apart that which will cause the earthquake is the seven dragons and their avatars are the seven angels) The floor disappeared from underneath Kamui.  He was falling.  Was he falling?  He was in freefall, and could not tell whether he was falling, stationary or drifting down at a constant velocity.  He remembered that, according to the Theory of Relativity, there was no difference between them, unless there was another object he could reference against.  He could not see anything. Everything was dark.  He imagined himself as stationary.</p><p>'Hello?' Suddenly, brightness.  He saw his hand.  He was in a bubble, like the one he had seen the other Kamui in.  Every direction was sky-blue, and there were clouds, and sheets of fabric floating.  Hinoto was next to him, in another bubble.  There was a gigantic seal in front of them.  It displayed seven intertwining dragons. 'Are the angels the same one that Kyougo-san spoke of?'</p><p>Hinoto ignored him.  (and then battle with the seven angels that which will defend against the destruction of the Earth is the dragon of heaven) Hinoto pointed away from the seal.  A dragon flew through the clouds, which parted, revealing the seven stars of the Big Dipper. (in Tokyo there are only seven who can create the kekkai that will defend the Earth the seven seals)</p><p>'The seven seals?'</p><p>(the dragons of heaven the dragons of earth the seven seals the seven angels) The dragons within the seal animated and shot out of it, breaking it apart, and six more dragons shot out of the sky.  A globe shaped like the Earth rose through the clouds, and the dragons fought around it.  They moved faster and faster, until they looked like nothing more than a roiling and wheeling mass of clouds with 14 heads, all fighting and gnashing and circling and slowly approaching the Earth.  Then, they made contact.  The dragons flew into the Earth, drawing the disc of cloud with them, and the sphere shone with a light so bright that, after Kamui flinched and closed his eyes shut, he could still see its afterimage.  Seconds later, he opened them, and found himself in the same dreamscape.  The Earth was still there, but the ice caps were gone, and, yet, somehow, the oceans had still receded.  The land was red, yellow, orange, grey and brown, with no trace of life. (Kamui if the dragons of heaven are defeated by the dragons of earth then the Earth will be destroyed recently earth-quakes in excess of level 5 on the richter scale have come in rapid succession this is within the omen)</p><p>'But why will the Earth be destroyed if an earthquake hits Tokyo?'</p><p>(because Tokyo is the lynchpin of the kekkai that protect the Earth in Tokyo numerous artificial kekkai exist the roads and the high-rise buildings in Shinjuku district serve as kekkai stones the Yamanote line a linear kekkai centred on the imperial palace the tracks of which were built in the shape of Buddha's palm to protect Tokyo Sunshine 60 the corner stone that supports the unstable foundation of Tokyo and Tokyo Tower-)</p><p>'Tokyo Tower?'</p><p>(there are countless kekkai set up by our predecessors in Tokyo if Tokyo is destroyed then these kekkai will also collapse this is why the seven seals must create kekkai large enough to protect the kekkai stones Kamui you can defend against the great earthquake of Tokyo command the dragons of heaven save the Earth)</p><p><em> That sounds like one hell of a responsibility to place on some boy of my age and temperament.  How the hell am I supposed to do this?  How powerful am I? </em>  'I… can… ?'</p><p>(I expect that you have noticed that power because of that power your mother left Tokyo with you while you were still a little child Kamui the one who holds the key to the future of this world do you know the reason for that name)</p><p>'Reason?' <em> Why would my name have a reason? </em> 'My mother gave me this name.  I don't think there were any reasons.'</p><p>(Kamui one who represents the majesty of the gods)</p><p>'And one who hunts the majesty of the gods.', said another person, standing behind them.  Kamui could not remember when the void had returned to featureless blackness.  </p><p>'Who?!', exclaimed Kamui.</p><p>'Pleased to meet you, Kamui.  I wanted to meet with you.' Given how she was dressed and how she was talking, she clearly thought that she could distract Kamui from their current situation.  This was not the case.  Instead of admiring her body, Kamui tried to puzzle out what he could from her necklace, which was too obvious, gaudy and impractical to be insignificant, and the vaguely butterflyish ornament on her forehead.</p><p>'Kanoe!  Why?’, Hinoto said, despairingly, on the verge of tears.  </p><p>'You can't get the jump on me, Hinoto-neesan,', bragged Kanoe, standing over Hinoto.</p><p>'Sister?'</p><p>'To enter my sister's dreams?  Not a difficult thing.  After all, there are only two of us in the world.' She turned towards Kamui, hugged him, and pressed her body against his.  He pulled his head back and began to walk backwards to avoid getting snogged. 'Nee-san, how sly of you to not say the most important thing.  Yes, you can become one of the seven seals, however-'</p><p>(PLEASE STOP KANOE PLEASE STOP) Kanoe blocked Hinoto's mental presence.</p><p>'You can also become one of the seven angels.' Although Kanoe had shut Hinoto up, the spell caused her to be distracted for long enough for Kamui to kick her.  She fell backwards, but when she was about to fall to the ground, it ceased to exist, and the three of them were in freefall.  This did not stop Kanoe's speech. 'For you, two futures exist :  to live as one of the seven seals, or to live as one of the seven angels.  Even Hinoto-hime, who has never made a mistake, as far as I know, couldn't exactly determine your future.  Kamui, the dream Hinoto-san showed you earlier is the one favourable to her.  Do you want to see another future?'</p><p>Hinoto began to create a spell to destroy the dream world.  Neither Kamui nor Kotori realised this.</p><p>'Yet another future?' <em> What does this mean?  There is only one future, right?' </em></p><p>'Righ-righ-righ-righ-righ-righ-righ-righ… ' Kanoe's voice glitched out.  Massive whirls of whiteness appeared, circling around Hinoto.  Feathers blasted.  Kamui felt something hit him, and lost consciousness.</p><p> </p><p>Kamui and Hinoto lay unconscious.  Kamui was lying  on his side on the raised platform next to where Hinoto had faceplanted, with her hair lying over Kamui.  Kamui was the first to wake up. 'Two...futures…?', he groaned as he opened his eyes.</p><p>'Future?', asked Sorata, standing over him, accompanied by Hien and Souhi. 'Are there two futures?  What does that mean?' Kamui did not know either.  From the looks on their faces, neither did Hien nor Souhi.  Kamui grumbled something.  Hien and Souhi moved aside Hinoto's hair and  Sorata helped Kamui back to his feet.  Once Kamui had taken a few steps, he whirled, pushing Sorata off so hard that he almost fell down. 'Hey, buddy!  You and I are on good terms, but that was a little cold.  How can you treat me so unkindly?' Kamui just stood there with his back to Sorata and his eyes closed.  He was trying to create a mental image of the room with ESP.</p><p>'How did I get from the door to the podium?'</p><p>'You just walked there.  I tried to grab the arm but you just kept trying to walk forward.  You nearly fell over.  It was like a robot!'</p><p>
  <em> Did she take control of my body without my permission?  I don't really trust her sister, if that's who she is, but my intuition told me that Hinoto is trying to mislead me.  Anybody who takes control of other peoples' bodies without their permission is probably evil.  Why did Sorata and Arashi just stand by?  I could tell that Sorata did not know Hinoto, so he could have been drawn in the same way that I was.  But what about Arashi?  And Hien and Souhi?  She must have brainwashed them all! </em>
</p><p>Kamui stared.  Energy crackled from his clenched fists. Hien and Souhi ran between him and Hinoto. 'Get out of my way!', shouted Kamui.  They remained in his path.  They were blasted away from Kamui while being zapped, falling into unconsciousness about a quarter of a second after they were lifted above the ground, as Kamui jumped into the air.  Approximately a tenth of a second later, Hinoto put up a barrier in front of the podium.  Around an eight of a second after that, Hien and Souhi hit the barrier, taking it down (and causing the light to turn off), and Kamui went through it about a twentieth of a second later.  Arashi began running towards the platform.  As Kamui had been jumping, he had retracted his legs slightly.  The front of his right foot hit the platform, absorbing most of the force, followed by his left leg.  He was in a half-kneeling position.  Sorata grabbed Arashi's right arm. 'Kamui!', shouted Sorata, as Kamui moved his right hand upwards to grab Hinoto's throat in a choking position, although he made sure not to actually choke her.  He moved his left hand towards the back of her head, but he realised that her spine was already broken between the lowermost neck and uppermost chest vertebrae.  <em> She must be moving and holding herself up telekinetically. </em>  Kamui briefly felt sorry for her, so he smiled as he calmly said 'Do you intend to trick me?'</p><p>(no) He could tell that she was panicking.  Meanwhile, Arashi was trying to break free from Sorata.  Sorata grabbed her other arm, as well. 'Wait!'</p><p>'What?', said Arashi, as Sorata tried to maneuver her arms behind her back.</p><p>'It seems you know about my mom.  Talk.', said Kamui.  ‘Who was the one that killed my mother?'</p><p>(I cannot tell you) </p><p>Kamui became furious, pushing Hinoto to the floor. 'Who burned the house we lived in, after we came from Tokyo!?  Who was the one that killed my mother while I was gone?!!'</p><p>(your mother was not killed)</p><p>'What?', said Kamui.  He lifted her off the floor gently, making sure not to bend her neck much.  He was just as angry as before, but now he wanted Hinoto's answers enough that he made sure not to kill her.  </p><p>(she took her life of her own accord) Kamui released her neck.  She closed her eyes.</p><p>'I.. it can't be.' <em> If she never told you about anything, what else may she have been holding back?  No, she was Mother!  She would never do that to you. </em> 'Can't be.' <em> Don't sob.  Please don't sob.  Not in front of Hinoto, Sorata and Arashi. </em></p><p>(Kamui), thought Hinoto.  She moved her arms up towards Kamui in a gesture of consolation.  </p><p><em> It's amazing how robotic her arms seem.  It makes sense, though.  She has to move them by remote control. </em>  Kamui felt guilty. <em>  After what I did to her, I am surprised that she is willing to do this for me.  She must be a good person. </em>'I'm sorry.  I'm sorry.'</p><p>A very bright light shone through the room.  Kamui, Sorata and Arashi all closed their eyes tightly.  'Kamui!'</p><p>'Who?', said Kamui.</p><p>'Unhand Hinoto-hime now!' It was Saiki Daisuke.  He was wearing a suit disheveled in a way that made it look like he had been running for too long.  His left arm was in a sling, and in his right hand was an extremely bright flashlight.  He was short of breath.</p><p>'Bastard.' Kamui, having recovered from the flashlight, turned back and began to walk towards him.  His eyes were closed, and he was seeing through ESP.  The room felt slightly wrong for some reason. 'You're still alive, huh?'</p><p>'I won't acknowledge it.', said Daisuke.</p><p>'What'd you say?', said Kamui, smirking.</p><p>'I will absolutely not acknowledge that you are Kamui!'</p><p>'Hey, don't mock me!', said Kamui.  <em> I've got stitches.  I must have exerted myself too much.  I probably can't win a fight in this state, but I can get the other guy to run, and if someone could die, Sorata and Arashi will intervene. </em>  He brought his hands upwards, and balls of energy appeared in them.  The energy was mostly for intimidation and served no real offensive purpose.  Daisuke's flashlight dimmed enough that him, Sorata and Arashi could open their eyes.  </p><p>All four of them then noticed that something was strange about the positions of surface irregularities on the walls and roof.  They seemed to be moving, but they would seem to have never changed when one focused on them.  It looked, at a glance, like they were aggregating into something.  Where the far corner of the room met the roof, a dog flew out of the wall, its tongue hanging out of its open mouth.  It moved far too fast for a dog, appearing to glide like a fish through water with its tail swerving behind it, landing noiselessly between Kamui and Daisuke, who both jumped backwards, attaining fighting stances.</p><p>'A wolf!', shouted Sorata.  Daisuke was sweating.  Arashi pulled out her sword.  Hien and Souhi, who had been woken up by the flashlight, cowered.  </p><p>(this is an inugami)</p><p>'An inugami?'</p><p>Hien and Souhi sprung back into full awareness. 'It can't be!!' 'In this dreaming-room, Hinoto-hime's kekkai is set up!' 'It should be impossible for an inugami to enter!'</p><p>(the seven seals Souhi Hien greet the one on the ground one of the seven seals is directly above us)</p><p> </p><p>Kotori was also thinking about Kamui, but in a much more stable and coherent way.  <em> Kamui-chan.  Where have you gone?  You are badly wounded.  Have you recovered?  When you were wounded, you healed much faster than most people.  Is this still the case?  </em> Kotori looked around the row of houses.  She saw the one where Kamui had lived when he was young.  <em> Ah, I must have recognised it subconsciously.  That's why I was thinking of Kamui! </em>  She did not know that he had returned to that house.  She walked past it, reminiscing about her childhood with Kamui.  She then realised that the part of the sidewalk in front of her was surrounded with wire mesh.  There was a door in the mesh, with "DO NOT ENTER" witten on it.  The door was partially open.  On the other side, three men wearing coveralls and hard-hats were angrily discussing something.  Kotori walked up towards the door.</p><p>'It's strange, you know.  Even though the surface is so massively torn, the cables and the water and gas pipes are just scratched a bit.  I wonder how that happened.'</p><p>'I wonder how the crack happened in the first place!  There wasn't an earthquake!'</p><p>Kotori opened the door and stood in it.  The workers did not open it.</p><p>'Why should we care?'</p><p>'Yeah, this just makes it easier.  We can just wait for the cement mixer to arri-'</p><p>The power cable started hissing.  Four screws that secured one segment of the cable to another unscrewed seemingly spontaneously.  The segment detached.</p><p>'I've never seen anything like this before.'</p><p>One of the segments curved upwards and then shot out of the rock and into the air.</p><p>'What?'</p><p>'The cables!' Two of the workers cowered against the side of the wire mesh, while the third ran out of a door on the other end.  The cable untwisted, creating dozens of tendrils which whipped through the air.  They briefly stopped moving, looking like a black metallic weeping willow.  The remaining two workers escaped out the back door.  </p><p>Kotori started to run.  When the wires started moving, they moved faster than she did. 'HELP!' The wires were above her.  As soon as they moved down, she would be dead.  She screamed.  The wires descended, cutting through the air in front of and behind her, surrounding her.  <em> They want me alive. </em>   A wire started to coil around her left arm.  She tried to shake and pull it off.  That effort had almost succeeded when she felt another wire brush her right leg.  She jumped out of it, but she was tripped and fell.  However, this caused the coil around her left arm to loosen, and she was able to use her arms to cushion her landing.  <em> Actually, how will the wires be able to coil around me if I am flat on the ground?  Maybe I should just lie down here and wait for help. </em>  The wires flailed around.  Kotori shouted for help a few more times, before she heard an explosion and the wires fell dead.  She tried to get up, and was grabbed around the waist by some guy who was running from the direction of the crack in the sidewalk and the explosion.  He ran to the end of the block, before putting Kotori down.  She stood up.  </p><p>'Are you unhurt, miss?'</p><p>'Y-yes.' <em> Well, I am missing my hat and I'll probably get bruises on my knees and I have received a massive shock which will probably not be very good for my heart and- </em></p><p>The strange man smiled, before saying 'Look out!  There are more of them!'</p><p>Kotori turned, and saw that the wires were back in the air, flailing around.  She retreated so that she was behind a building.  One of the wires grabbed a telephone pole and ripped it out of the ground, before swinging it at the mystery man. 'Telephone pole!  Look out!', she said.  She hoped that he would jump out of the way.</p><p>Instead, he just glanced at it disapprovingly, before grabbing it, shouting 'SHIRAHADORI!' and wresting it out of the grip of the cables, tearing one in half.  He then threw the telephone pole towards the source of the cables.  It bounced off the wire mesh, but managed to trap many of the cables below it.  These stopped moving and started sparking.  However, another bunch of cables came out of the ground.  'Hadou Ken!', shouted the strange man, as he seemingly pushed on air he had cupped between his hands.  Kotori saw (by way of distortion in the paths of light, like through the air above a toaster) that there was an expanding sphere of air, rapidly moving towards the cables.  When it hit, they were pushed back, some of them snapping.  A shock-wave bounced back, shattering windows and pushing the stranger onto his back.  He returned to a fighting stance, a crazed look in his eyes. 'CHIKYUUWARI!!!!!!' He punched the ground on the sidewalk, creating gigantic cracks.  The cables stopped moving and fell to the ground.  Some of them continued to twitch.  The strange man started breathing deeply.  Kotori just stared.  When he turned around to look at her, he looked normal again.  Seeing her expression, he tried to reassure her. 'It's okay now.  I broke the power supply to the cables.' He paused. 'To cause a disturbance like this, our enemy must be extremely powerful.  Was it someone you know, miss?' He walked towards her. 'A cute girl like you should be careful.' He smiled, before jumping onto the roof of one of the houses which had had its windows shattered.</p><p>'Th-thank you.  For saving me.', said Kotori.  Between the adrenaline rush and a vague feeling that she could just wake up, like in a dream, she had failed to entirely grasp the reality of the incident until it was over.  Now, she understood that she may have died had this man not intervened.</p><p>'This neighborhood is especially dangerous.', said the man out loud, surveying the area, seemingly oblivious to Kotori's thanks. 'After all, it is where Kamui was raised.'</p><p><em> Kamui?  He knows about Kamui?  Who is he?  Why does he know that? </em>  The man jumped away.  'W-wait!' He ignored her.</p><p> </p><p>'Satsuki-chan.  What happened?  The machine was sparking while you were inside.  Are you-' She looked dazed and confused as she left the capsule. </p><p>'I'm fine.  Just a little disoriented.  Where are my glasses?  I can't find them without my glasses.'</p><p>Yuuto found them quickly, picked them up, and gave them to her, calmed but still confused.  <em> She's not hurt. </em>  'What happened?'</p><p>'Kanoe told me to, uh, to… to investigate that girl.  I poked my nose in, and got slapped!' Satsuki wiped her glasses, put them on, and smiled at Yuuto.  It was the first time he had seen her smile.  </p><p>Yuuto thought she looked extremely cute, and stared at her. 'B-by who?', he stammered, flustered.</p><p>'I don't know, but…' Her face turned serious.  Yuuto could focus again.</p><p><em> To push away Satsuki and BEAST, the attacker would have to be extremely powerful.  </em>'One of the seven seals?'</p><p>'No…' Satsuki sounded a bit confused. 'He did not raise a kekkai or show any concern over collateral damage.'</p><p>'He might have been one of the Dragons of Earth.', said Kanoe, waking into the room.  Her white dress was badly torn and she had cuts on her chest and one of her shoulders.</p><p>'Where did you get those wounds?'</p><p>'I did some mischief in my sister's dream, and I was  driven back.' She ran her hand through the air, a cocky and triumphant expression on her face. 'Thankfully, I was able to contact Kamui.' <em> Ah, that explains it </em> , thought Yuuto <em> . </em> Kanoe remembered that Yuuto haad looked concerned even before she walked in. 'Satsuki, you weren't hurt?', she said, before kissing her on the left cheek and stroking her right as Satsuki rolled her eyes.  </p><p>'Right.'</p><p>'And did you find out the… name… of that girl?', Kanoe breathed into her left ear.</p><p>'Kotori Monou.'</p><p>'So… Kotori-chan, you say…' She moved her left hand behind Satsuki's head and her right hand to her mouth. 'Satsuki, how about one more request?' She kissed Satsuki on top of her head. 'I'd like you to investigate the person who rescued Kotori-chan.'</p><p>Satsuki  brushed Kanoe's left hand away with her right. 'I'm already tracking him.'</p><p>'Thanks.' She stroked Satsuki's right cheek and chin with her right hand. 'They are gathering… those involved in the End…'</p><p>
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</p><p>Kamui, Sorata, Arashi, Daisuke, Hien and Souhi stared at the inugami.  They all waited for it to do something.  It was just lying on the floor, which was very atypical for inugami :  inugami were created for a purpose, and that purpose was usually to do something violent, or at least active.  This thing was not doing that. <em> Maybe it's a show of force.  Maybe it's spying on us?   </em></p><p>The inugami turned to face Kamui.  Kamui made eye contact with it.  It looked like they were staring each other down.  </p><p>Sorata could not handle the suspense.  He felt worried, so he made a joke. 'Oh, that inugami!  He and Kamui are staring at each other!' Saiki Daisuke, who was standing next to Sorata, gave him side-eye.  Sorata ignored him. 'Even an inugami likes a pretty, um, uh, boy!  I mean, I think…' He was lucky that Kamui did not hear that, and he knew it.  He wanted to change the subject before Kamui had had a chance to think about what he had said. 'Maybe that miss over there will be well liked, too!  Because she's also Miss Gorgeous! Don't you think so!?' Daisuke just stared confusedly.  Sorata tried to connect. 'Oh by the way mister, are your wounds from when Kamui got you okay?' Daisuke clenched his fists and stomped. 'Wahahah!' Sorata jumped away from him. 'Good reflexes, mister!'</p><p>'YOU…!', shouted Daisuke.</p><p>Arashi grabbed his right arm before he could throw a punch. 'Now, now.  Calm down.'</p><p>'Kamui is still a child, too!  And he's very mischievous!' Sorata winked.  </p><p>'I will not acknowledge that he is the Kamui.'</p><p>'Nope.  Actually, he's the genuine Kamui.'</p><p>'How dare you say that?!' </p><p>Sorata smirked. 'Because I've felt it.  I, Arisugawa Sorata, one of the seven seals!'</p><p>'We brought her along, princess.', said somebody they had not seen before.  The door opened, and two people walked in.  One was an unassuming guy wearing a business suit.  </p><p>The other was a young girl wearing a grey trouser-suit with a wide-brimmed black hat.  She bowed, causing her hat to fall off, and then proclaimed : 'I'm Nekoi Yuzuriha!  I'm 14!'.  Kamui, Daisuke, Sorata and Arashi just stared.  She skipped towards them, bowed to each of them in turn, and said 'Nice to meet you.  I give my best regards to you all for what is to come!' The other four were all confused. 'Ah!  Inuki!' The inugami whirled through the air, landing in her arms.  She hugged it. 'Thanks for working so hard, Inuki!' She then walked towards Hinoto. 'Well, it was OK coming to the Diet Building, but although I wanted to come down to the basement, I didn't know where to go downstairs from, and there was no doorbell, so I had Inuki go in front of me!' She blinked.  Hinoto opened her blank, white eyes.  Yuzuriha was vaguely unnerved by them.  This broke her out of her giddiness. 'Good day.  Are you Hinoto-san?'</p><p>(then you really are-)</p><p>She never got a chance to finish the thought, as Yuzuriha had recovered from Hinoto's being creepy at her. 'One of the Seven Seals!  A Dragon of Heaven!  Nekoi Yuzuriha of Mitsumine Shrine!'</p><p>'Yeah, you told her your name already.', remarked Kamui.</p><p>Yuzuriha, upon that, realised that she did not know the names of the other four people in the room. [Hien, Souhi and the other guy had left while she was ranting at Hinoto.] 'Um, if it's okay, could you please tell me your names?'</p><p>'Oh, that's right!', said Sorata. 'I'm Arisugawa Sorata.  Call me Sora-chan!'</p><p>Noticing his accent, Yuzuriha replied with 'Hello!  Wow!  Are you from Kansai?'</p><p>'Yup, that's right!'</p><p>'Oh wow, this is the first time I've ever personally met a person from Kansai!'</p><p>'Go ahead, look on to your heart's content.  I'm a genuine Kansai boy!'</p><p>Yuzuriha turned to Daisuke. 'Next is…'</p><p>'I'm Saiki Daisuke.'</p><p>'Oh.', she said, noticing his arm in a sling. 'Saiki, do you happen to…' she realised that it would be impolite to bring that up, so she continued in a different direction. 'be an acquaintance of Aoki-san?'</p><p>'Do you know Aoki-san!?’, shouted Saiki.  He sounded very angry, for some reason.  </p><p>'Yup!', said Yuzuriha.</p><p>'You mean Aoki-san, the editor of Kadokawa Shoten?'</p><p>'That's right.  The one working in the editorial department of Yasei-jidai...uh, do you know him, too?'</p><p>'I've met him, but not for long enough to even call him an acquaintance.'</p><p>'Oh, I forgot to ask you!  What is your name?' Yuzuriha bowed.</p><p>'Kishuu.'</p><p>Yuzuriha turned to Kamui and waved her hand above their heads.  Kamui flinched back, expecting an attack.  The attack that came was not what he expected. 'At school, are you about second from the front when they line you up from photos?'</p><p>'That is harsh, Yuzuriha-chan!' Sorata guffawed.  Saiki was frightened, and put up shielding wards.  Arashi was simply embarrassed.  Kamui stared at Yuzuriha.  Being only a few centimetres taller than her, it was not very intimidating.  </p><p>'Is he sensitive about that subject, by any chance?', Yuzuriha asked.  Now everybody was staring at her.  She tried to deflect. 'Kishuu-san?  What is the rest of your name?'</p><p>'Arashi.  Kishuu Arashi.'</p><p>'Arashi-san?  Cool name!' She then turned back towards Sorata, and whispered in his ear. 'Who is the one over there with a grim look in his face?  He looks like he's carrying all the troubles of the Earth on his back.'</p><p>'That's Shirou Kamui!  Usually, he's a snappy high-school sophomore!'</p><p>Yuzuriha turned to Kamui. 'Are you the Kamui?  You're so handsome!  And since you're still a sophomore, you might grow taller!  There's no problem!' Kamui stepped backward, blushing, his eyes wide.  <em> someone please take this crazy girl away from me what why is she here and why does she admire me and this is the first time in my life anyone has called me handsome does she love me I hope not- </em></p><p>'Handsomeness and height aren't related, you know.', said Sorata from behind him.</p><p>Kamui was relieved at his interjection, but would never have admitted it. 'That is really not a follow.'</p><p>'I've made you mad, haven't I?', said Yuzuriha.  Kamui started walking towards the door. 'When people are hungry, they tend to get angry quickly.', she said, pulling a box of pocky out of a pocket.  Kamui stopped and stared at it with a quizzical look on his face.  Yuzuriha walked up to him and waved it in his face.  Kamui did not know what to do.  There were multiple reasons for not starting a fight, and walking out would make him look like a coward.  He considered saying something to her, but was interrupted by Sorata literally rolling on the floor laughing.  Kamui decided that, considering that the room was full of insane idiots, walking out would be seen as sensible.</p><p>He got interrupted again. (please wait! kamui) He could actually see the exclamation mark. It looked like it was floating in front of his face.  He punched at it, and it dissolved.</p><p>'I don't take orders from anybody.' He rolled his eyes.</p><p>Daisuke had been itching for a rematch. 'Hold it right there!', Kamui heard him shout.  </p><p><em> I forgot how angry these morons get when you "insult the princess" </em>, he thought.  He searched around the room, before remembering that magicians could jump high, so he looked up and saw Daisuke hanging by his good hand from a ledge on the wall.  Kamui created a shield as he jumped down.  It was not nearly powerful enough to stop him, but it was enough to redirect his motion so that he landed a good three metres from Kamui and was slightly stunned. 'Oh yeah?', he quipped. 'I haven't settled my score with you yet!' This gave Daisuke enough time to react, and they prepared for the next round of the fight.  However, both assumed the other would attack, so they both created defensive fields, but ones that could be projected at the opponent if necessary.  Both of them were roughly evenly matched ;  although he was by far the more powerful of the two, Kamui was not nearly as well trained and had also expended energy on his stunts earlier.  They slowly backed away from each other.</p><p>'What?  Do the two of them have history with each other?', asked Yuzuriha.</p><p>'Well, they're still kind of uncommunicative, because the two of them are unusually serious.', answered Sorata.</p><p>'What happened?  Is it that Saiki-san also hurt Kamui's feelings by mentioning his height, so Kamui broke his arm?'</p><p>'No, it's not.  Actually-' </p><p>He was cut off by Kamui shouting 'I'm gonna break you into pieces, along with this entire room!' Kamui had gotten bored of the standoff, and wanted to goad Saiki into attacking rashly.</p><p>'Saiki!  Stop it!', shouted Arashi.</p><p>He was incensed, and would not allow the fact that Arashi had had to save his life the last time he fought Kamui get in the way of his revenge.  He came up with a flimsy excuse. 'While I am not one of the seven seals, I am a wind-master entrusted with the duty of protecting Hinoto-hime!  Besides, if that guy is the Kamui, then the world is-'</p><p>'STOP TALKING SO DAMN MUCH!', shouted Kamui, and a massive wave of energy blasted towards Saiki.  He jumped backwards as his shield caught the attack and fell.  He created another, identical one, as did Kamui.  He did not notice a beam of wood above Kamui's head splitting into sheets along its lines of cleavage and shooting towards him as he jumped towards Kamui.  </p><p>Arashi did. 'No!' It was too late.</p><p>Or, rather, it would have been, if nobody else had intervened.  Suddenly, Hinoto, Hien, Souhi, Sorata, Arashi, Yuzuriha, Saiki and Kamui found themselves scattered in random locations on what looked like a glass surface.  The background was black, with white cirrus-like scratch patterns that slowly changed.  Bubbles floated above and below the plane where they stood.</p><p>'We're in a dreamscape.'</p><p>'Yeah, of course.'</p><p>'Hinoto?'</p><p>(this is an illusion but it was not cast by me)</p><p>'But we were in Hinoto-hime's kekkai in the Diet Building!', shouted Saiki despairingly.</p><p>(probably one of the seven angels)</p><p>'Oh , so the opposition has decided to make a direct attack on our home base, heh?  Pretty bold.', replied Sorata.  <em> It makes sense.  Here is where we would least expect an attack. </em></p><p>Arashi's sword appeared.</p><p>'Wow, did that sword come out of her body?  I wonder where it's kept!'. wondered Yuzuriha.</p><p>'I don't know.  We're not in a romantic relation yet.', joked Sorata, without thinking enough.  Arashi stared at him.</p><p>'This is a pretty tense scene, considering we just got here.  It's like Grandma from Mitsumine said.  It looks like things are going to get busy!', thought Yuzuriha.  </p><p>She failed to realise that she had been thinking out loud until Sorata started talking. 'The one that got the shingou of Mitsumine-daigonen from the seigo-inkan… and the one that uses wolves as the kenzo-kushin of the gongen...that…' Sorata trailed off.  It made perfect sense.</p><p>'My!  You are well acquainted with it!', exclaimed Yuzuriha.  </p><p>'But, if you have an inugami, why are you named "Nekoi"?'</p><p>'It's a concealing name!  If inugami masters were to have names related to "inu", that would be like walking around with a sign saying the name of your familiar taped to your back!  And Yuzuriha Nekoi is not my birth name, anyway.'</p><p>'I see. You guys put a lot of effort into this.' None of them noticed the giant spires of rock (about a metre in diametre, too long to see the other end of, and conical at the tip) extruding towards them until they were within metres.  They had been cloaked with an illusion spell.  'What's that!', said Sorata.  The people assembled jumped out of the way, except Hinoto, who was carried by Hien and Souhi.  </p><p>(we have become trapped in the spell of a magician!)</p><p>Saiki breathed deeply. 'If it's an illusion, then even if the rocks hit us-'</p><p>'No!  Even though it is an illusion, we will receive the same mental influence as if it was in reality, in other words, the sensation of pain when the rocks hit you will be real!', corrected Arashi.</p><p>'The body will have no superficial wounds, but the pain will remain.  I know that people can die from pain.', added Sorata.</p><p>'This is getting annoying!', shouted Kamui.  The tips of the spires cracked and fell into dust.</p><p>'Wow, that's incredible!', exclaimed Yuzuriha.</p><p>'He's Kamui.', said Sorata. 'It looks like we'll have to break the illusion in order to leave.' He thought about how he could do that for a bit. 'Allow me to try one thing.  NAMA SAMANTA BUDDHANAM INDRAYA!!' Electricity shot out of his hands.  There was no limit to the power he could summon in an illusion.  The metal in the rocks superheated and turned into high-pressure gas, and the spires exploded into fragments.</p><p>This respite would only be temporary.  Spires began to approach from the other direction. 'Sorata-chan, are you connected with Mikkyou?', asked Yuzuriha, as they jumped away.</p><p>'I'm from Kouya-san.'</p><p>'I didn't know that!'</p><p>'You didn't think that such a cool monk could exist, did you?' They then noticed the spires approaching them falling to the ground.  Arashi had cut them with a sword.  Inuki jumped into Yuzuriha's hands, but, as it did that, it morphed into a staff.  Yuzuriha jumped up, among the spires, waving her staff.  Each time it hit one of the spires, the spire would crack, and the tip of the staff would bounce towards another.  Eventually, friction from the air and loss of energy from collisions between the rock and the staff caused Yuzuriha to land atop one of the decapitated spires.  The staff turned back into Inuki, and Yuzuriha and Inuki jumped back to where the others were. 'That sure is convenient.', said Sorata. 'Can this dog transform into anything?'</p><p>Yuzuriha, ignoring him, hugged Inuki and said 'You're a hard worker.'</p><p>'I don't have time to go along with this tea-time game.', said Kamui, staring upwards. 'I'm going home.' <em>If the attacker wanted to kill us, this is not how they would do it.  This is a test of power, not an attack.</em></p><p>'Tea-time game!?', shouted Saiki, trying to get a rise out of Kamui, who ignored him.  Kamui faced his arms towards the sky and beams of light shot out of them.  Where they converged, a black void formed, increasing in size.  There was a flash of light.</p><p> </p><p>The seals, Kamui, Hinoto, Saiki, Hien and Souhi found themselves back in Hinoto's room.  Flower petals floated around them.</p><p>'Sakura.', said Kamui.</p><p>Something that sounded like an alarm went off ;  however, the dragons quickly realised that it was not an alarm.  There was no real sound attached to it.  It was a telepathic call, and it resolved into words.  No, a word.  A title. </p><p>(SAKURAZUKAMORI SAKURAZUKAMORI SAKURAZUKAMORI SAKURAZUKAMORI SAKURA-)</p><p>'Shut up!', shouted Kamui.  The ground shook. 'An earthquake?'</p><p>The lights went out. 'What the-', someone shouted.  The walls cracked, as did the floor.  The walls surrounding the circular space where Hinoto sat collapsed, revealing that the room had truly been modern and rectangular.  The pillars that had supported the wall then cracked.  Arashi jumped in front of Sorata, trying to protect him, but misjudged where she would land.  She collided with him and ended up falling to the floor on top of him.  No debris landed on them, or near them, seemingly out of luck, and none of the others were close enough to the walls to get hurt.  They got up again, just in time to see a gigantic blade cutting out of the floor between Kamui and Yuzuriha.  The room, suddenly, stabilised.</p><p>'Why did it stop?  Was it something one of you did?'</p><p>'Are there any injuries?'</p><p>'Well, the quake stopped.', said Sorata.  Arashi grabbed his left arm.  There was a bloody path on his shirt.  Something had gone into his arm when they had fallen on the floor. Sorata winced.</p><p>'Blood?'</p><p>'It's OK!  It's OK!' He waved his arm around. 'It's just a surface cut.  It'll get better if I lick it!'</p><p>'But...', said Arashi.  </p><p>'This is nothing!  I've chosen you, miss!'</p><p>'What?', said Arashi, not understanding what Sorata was talking about.</p><p>Sorata stood still for a bit, and then joked 'Are you going to lick it for me, miss?' Arashi just stared.  Sorata laughed at his own joke.</p><p>'That was some earthquake!', shouted Yuzuriha.  The blade that had protruded from the floor was gone.  She wondered whether it had ever existed.</p><p>(once again a kekkai has been broken Kamui the dream I showed you earlier does not contain a lie it was the truth and the death of that girl which I showed you earlier in your dream is also true but there exists another dream as Kanoe informed you)</p><p>'What?  Kanoe-sama?' Hien seemed truly offended.</p><p>'Kanoe-sama was in your dream, hime?' Souhi sounded more angry.</p><p>(that was my younger sister bestowed with the power to travel through dreams)</p><p>'How can there be two true dreams?'</p><p>(you are the Kamui :  one who represents the majesty of god)</p><p>'What did you say?'</p><p>(meaning that you will bring together the ones who god granted power to carry out the power and the will of god and save the Earth the name Kamui has another meaning ((one who hunts the majesty of god)) meaning that you will hunt the ones who have the power of god and destroy the Earth)</p><p>Arashi, Yuzuiha, Saiki and Sorata turned and stared.  <em> If he chooses to hunt us… </em></p><p>'I will...destroy…?' Kamui could see himself killing Saiki, but he decided that he would need to be pretty severely provoked to kill Sorata or Arashi, and Yuzuriha was too cute for him to be angry at for more than a few seconds.  <em> Yeah, I'm not destroying the world.  And there is no way in hell that I would hurt Kotori and Fuuma.  Why did I think of the other people in the room before I thought of Kotori and Fuuma?  Probably because they are in the room with me, and I have become used to not keeping Kotori and Fuuma in the front of my mind. </em></p><p>(what Kanoe has told you is the truth you can become one of the seven seals however you can also become one of the seven angels based on your decision the destiny of the Earth will be altered greatly)</p><p>'The Earth?  Just because of me...alone?'</p><p>(the dream I showed you earlier will become reality if you become one of the seven angels the disastrous earthquake the mountainous pile of corpses all of these things will become reality I beg of you please please save the Earth Kamui together with these three and the remaining three of the seals save the Earth) Kamui ran out of the room and through the hallways of the Diet Building, drawing weird glances from people who were surprised to see a high-schooler in the halls of government.  They had not noticed them while they were entering because there was a field effect on them which prevented people from noticing that they were unusual.  </p><p>'It's OK.', said Sorata.  There are people he wants to protect, and so he will not fight to destroy the world.  I think he just does not want to fight.  He's not insane!' <em> The seals are gathering.  There is me, there is Kamui, Arashi, Yuzuriha.  Not Saiki.  That leaves three others. </em> 'We have to find the other three.'<br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/></p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I have folded part of X volume 5 into this chapter as it makes more sense to end the volume at the end of the Diet scene rather than on a cliffhanger which every X/1999 fan knows the resolution of.</p><p>The character Okada comes from the fanfic Nukume Dori by Leareth, which I strongly recommend.<br/>Imonoyama Tsuzuku comes from SHOTEN and from Combination by Riiza Sei, a former member of CLAMP.<br/>It seemed rather bizarre that Seishirou's attack was so... not dangerous.  It seemed more like some sort of attempt to try to see what the powers of the Dragons were.  Also, the coincidential timing of his attack with Kamui's fight with Saiki was very suspicious, so I have further developed this.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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